Enabled by Social Cash Transfer
Disability grant gives Chikokomo a livelihood
By Linda Mupemo
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| Mackenzie Chikokomo sells vegetables to Chisamba District Social Welfare Logistics Officer Benard Tembo (center) and Social Welfare intern Linda Namala |
Walking steadily with the help of a crutch, Mackenzie Chikokomo weeds his vegetable garden on the shores of Mwomboshi river.
Although he needs mobility aids to support the right part of his body, he is undeterred in his farming endeavours.
Mr. Chikokomo, a small-scale farmer in Chisamba district in Central Province, is living with a disability which resulted from a crocodile attack when he was nine years old.
He secured a piece of land near the river to enable him grow crops all year round.
The 46-year-old, who is a father of two, grows Chinese, kale and maize for sale as well as for home consumption.
“The crocodile may have robbed me of my right leg but it did not rob me of the strength to use my other body parts to sustain myself,” he says.
Making it in life with one leg meant that Mr. Chikokomo needed the mental streght to accept his physical condition and courage to overcome obstacles.
Today, he is a beneficiary of the Social Cash Transfer (SCT) programme, an initiative that helped him fund his farming activities.
“I invest part of my SCT funds into my farming business and use the rest for my family’s basic needs. We never go to bed hungry; I am thankful to Government for coming to my aid,” he said in an interview.
Francis Chintu, another SCT beneficiary echoes Mr. Chikokomo’s statement, saying transitioning from being physically fit to being chronically ill has drastically changed the trajectory of his life.
In 2017, Mr. Chintu, 57, a father of three children, was diagnosed with osteitis, a disorder of the bones which causes them to be inflamed.
The condition has affected the lower part of his body which has in turn affected his legs thereby limiting his mobility.
Before falling ill, Mr. Chintu was a lecturer at Chipembi College of Agriculture in Chisamba.
“As months went by, my health deteriorated. I can neither stand nor do my day-to-day activities with ease. My condition forced me to resign on medical grounds in 2020,” he recalls.
He says his illness and subsequent resignation from his job made him become vulnerable as he is yet to be given his employee benefits.
Mr. Chintu's condition requires him to frequently travel to Lusaka for medical check-ups hence increasing his financial burden.
In 2022, the Ministry of Community Developement and Social Services came to his rescue by putting him on the SCT programme.
Mr. Chintu used part of his SCT payment to invest in a poultry business.
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“My wife has been very supportive through it all. We have 300 chickens currently which we sell at K 140 each. We have also invested part of our profits in a tailoring business my wife runs,” he says.
His wife Beauty attests to how the Social Cash Transfer programme has helped rescue their family from hunger and lack of disposable income.
Before her husband was enrolled on the SCT programme, her tailoring business was almost grounding to a halt.
Today Beauty, who makes clothes and uniforms boasts of a stable income and monthly profit of not less than K 2000.
My husband’s situation is dire but SCT has been our saving grace. We are eternally grateful to Government for the financial support ,” she says.
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| Beauty Chintu at her tailoring shop |
Social Cash Transfer, a social protection programme implemented by the Ministry of Community Development and Social Services in collaboration with its cooperating partners is aimed at reducing extreme poverty and its intergenerational transfer.
The Social Welfare department disburses funds to financially incapacitated households to aid them meet basic needs such as health, education, food and shelter.
Chisamba District Social Welfare Officer Martha Mumba says the programme was rolled out to the district in 2017.
Ms. Mumba explains that there are five categories of vulnerabilities which make people qualify to be on the social protection programme namely the chronically ill and on palliative care, child headed homes, female headed homes with at least three children below the age of 18, the aged and persons with disabilities.
The chronically ill and persons with severe cases of disabilities receive K 1,200 per beneficiary while beneficiaries from female-headed households, child-headed households and the aged are given K 800 bi-monthly.
“We started out with about 3,000 beneficiaries. Over the years, the number of our clients has increased and our caseload is 9,137 at the moment,” Ms. Mumba says.
Chisamba District Commissioner Joel Mboyoma reaffirmed Government’s commitment to aiding vulnerable people and alleviating poverty in the country.
Mr. Mboyoma notes that the Social Cash Transfer programme is playing a vital role in lifting people out of extreme poverty in the area.
“Most of the beneficiaries have no source of income whatsoever. The SCT funds they receive is all they rely on for their sustenance,” he says.
Mr. Mboyoma shares that some beneficiaries are engaging in farming activities and other income generating activities thereby multiplying their income and reducing vulnerability.
According to the 2022 Living Conditions Monitoring Survey (LCMS) which was conducted by the Zambia Statistics Agency (Zamstats), 60 percent of the Zambian population lives below the poverty datum line of US$ 2.15 per day. Noteworthy is that Zambia’s population is currently 19, 610, 769.
Further, the LCMS report indicates that rural poverty levels stand at 78.8 percent while urban poverty levels stand at 31.9 percent, indicating that rural areas such as Chisamba district have high levels of deprivation and vulnerability.
The implementation of the Social Cash Transfer programme is in line with the 8th National Development Plan whose development outcome number four focuses on reducing poverty, vulnerability and inequality.
It highlights the Government determination to improve the coordination of of social protection programmes and enhancing the welfare and livelihoods of poor and vulnerable people.
Additionally, eradicating poverty in all its dimensions resonates with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Number one which focuses on ending poverty in all its forms by 2030.
This involves implementing nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures targeting the poor and vulnerable as well as supporting communities affected by conflict and climate related disasters.
This feature article was published in Zambia Daily Mail newspaper on 5th June, 2025.
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