Participants in the Climate Smart Public Works Programme (CS-PWP) in Kasungu have lauded the government for migrating from manual to electronic payment of their wages, saying the shift guarantees the safety of their money.
Speaking during a community sensitization on the change in payment processes at Chankhanga Catchment in Traditional Authority Mwase on Monday, one of the programme participants, Ibrahim Phiri, said the manual payments were associated with logistical challenges which disadvantaged them.
“We welcome this change to the payment system because we believe it will reduce the logistical challenges that were there in the first cycle of the project, such as delayed payments and some beneficiaries missing on the pay sheet.
“We could leave our work and spend the whole day on a queue just to get our wages. So the new system is good because it is getting rid of all those problems, apart from guaranteeing the safety of the money,” said Phiri.
He said the communities are energized to participate in the second cycle of the programme which is expected to commence in the next two weeks.
Phiri said: “On the ground, the morale is high. We are set for the next phase. So far we have already prepared thousands of tree nurseries ready to be planted when the rains begin. This is our voluntary contribution to the programme activities to show ownership of the initiative.”
Kasungu District Council Desk Officer for the programme, Ignatius Lipato, said it is pleasing the communities have welcomed the new paying system, pointing out that the harmonized electronic payment service for social protection initiatives reduces costs and risks associated with manual transfers of cash from councils to beneficiaries.
Lipato said: “We are excited that the participants under this programme have welcomed the shift in payment system because a lot of resources will be saved as everything will be done digitally. This will also reduce work related delays, costs and risks.
“Secondly, the logistical challenges associated with manual payments were somehow taking away the trust the people had in the authorities. So we expect that trust to be restored because we don’t anticipate a lot of challenges.”
He said with the varying financial literacy levels amongst participants, the district council will continue with the sensitization on the benefits of the electronic payments which government through the National Local Government Finance Committee is championing.
Under the CS-PWP, Kasungu has 19,530 participants who are involved in activities that include reforestation, contour marker ridging, vetiver planting, storm water drain construction, gully reclamation and promoting natural regeneration of forests.
Overall, the CS-PWP aims at restoring the environment to shrug off climate change shocks that threaten people’s livelihood while at the same time building livelihood resilience for the poor and vulnerable population.
By Wanangwa Tembo
