The Department of Social Development under the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection has commenced a 30-day recruitment and training exercise of the Beneficiaries Welfare Committee (BWC) to monitor and evaluate the Inua Jamii cash transfer program in over 200 sub-locations across Baringo County.
Speaking to KNA on Tuesday, David Kigen the acting County Social Development Officer said the recruitment and training of 15 officials from each sub-location will take place with the assistance of National Government Administrative Officers (NGAO) in all locations across the county except in Tiaty East and Tiaty West Sub- Counties where security operation is ongoing.
“To qualify as a committee member, one should be a beneficiary of the fund, a caregiver or nominated by the community at large. In addition, membership should be inclusive of the four cash transfer programs namely; the Cash Transfer for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (CT OVC), Older Persons Cash Transfer (OPCT), Persons with Severe Disabilities Cash Transfer (PWSD-CT) and Hunger Safety Net Program (HSNP),” Kigen said.
The roles of the committee, Kigen said, will include creating awareness and mobilization of beneficiaries on program activities, receiving feedback from the community, recording complaints and grievances, distributing information materials to the larger community and forwarding the reports to the program officer and relevant officers on cases of Errors, Fraud and Corruption (EFC).
In addition, the committee will be mandated to assist in sensitization of rights, duties and responsibilities of beneficiaries or care givers and assist beneficiaries by providing information on payment agents in the area.
Kigen further clarified that the exercise that has already kicked off will end on March 30 this year since training is being undertaken on an ongoing basis and pointed out that insecurity, inadequate funds to traverse the vast county and the delay of information reaching all sub- counties at the expected time were some of the challenges they have encountered.
“We are concerned that Tiaty East and Tiaty West Sub-Counties where a security operation is ongoing will lag behind in this exercise yet they have 65 sub-locations out of the total 286 sub-locations in the entire county but will commence once the operation is over, “he noted.
The programme will be implemented in the field by the Department of Children services, the Department of Social Development and the National Council for persons with Disabilities.
Feedback to beneficiary or care givers will be through phone calls, SMS, Email, letter through BWC and social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Twitter and Facebook.
Caroline Cherono and Michelle Yatich
