Under the President’s Recovery Priorities, the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs (MSWGCA) is working in partnership with community and traditional leaders, the Sierra Leone Association of Ebola Survivors and humanitarian partners to increase the socioeconomic security of people affected by the Ebola Virus Disease through the Social Rehabilitation and Payments to Ebola Survivors (SRPES) project.
The SRPES project, which will provide livelihood skills and monthly cash payments to EVD affected people, was officially launched in Kailahun on September 5, 2016.
Attending were EVD survivors, community and traditional leaders, representatives from the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs (MSWGCA), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and implementing partners.
A representative of the MSWGCA Minister, Dr. Sylvia Olayinka Blyden, delivered the keynote speech. In it she praised the resilience of EVD Survivors and assured them of Government and partner support in building sustainable livelihoods and addressing social marginalisation in their communities.
Beneficiaries will receive their monthly cash transfers via mobile money. Africell, who will be implementing the cash transfers in seven districts, supplied SIM cards to the EVD survivors and showed them how to use the mobile money service so that they were able to receive the first tranche of their cash transfers.