The National Commission for Social Action (NaCSA) has commenced payment of beneficiaries of the Covid-19 Ep Fet Po/Social Safety Net Project. Funded by the Government of Sierra Leone, the World Bank and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Covid-19 Ep Fet Po/SSN is part of the Government of Sierra Leone’s Quick Action Economic Response Program (QAERP) to address the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on people’s livelihoods.

The project covers seventy-two thousand (72,000) households (HH) across the country. In October 2020, NaCSA and its partners completed the targeting and enrollment of thirty-five thousand (35,000) beneficiary households across all 16 (sixteen) districts in Sierra Leone.  Based on the generated files, a total of thirty-three thousand and ten (33,010) households received the first tranche of their benefits.

NaCSA, on Monday 18th October, 2021 started payment with four categories of beneficiaries receiving different benefits:

Households with no PwDs received payment for two (2) quarters at SLL436,000 per quarter. This sums up to (Eight Hundred and Seventy-two thousand Leones (SLL 872,000).

Households with Pwds received payment for two (2) quarters at SLL436,000 per quarter. They received an additional transfer of SLL436,000 to support PwDs in the households. The total amount per household under this category is One Million three hundred and eight thousand leones (1,308,000).

Households with resolved missing data issues and without PwDs received two million one hundred and eighty-one (SLL 2,181,000) which includes first tranche payment of SLL1,309,000, second and third tranche payment of Eight hundred and seventy-two Leones (SLL 872,000).

Households with resolved missing data issues and with one or more PwDs received Two million six hundred and seventeen thousand leones (SLL 2,617,000) which comprises of first tranche payment of SLL1,309,000 second and third trance payment of SLL872,000 and one-off transfer of SLL436,000 to support PwDs members of the beneficiary households.

Upon completion of payments across the sixteen districts, NaCSA will be injecting Forty-One Billion, Eight Hundred and Sixteen Million, Four Hundred and Forty-Six Thousand Leones (41,816,446,000.00) into Sierra Leoneans local economy.

This gives beneficiaries the opportunity to purchase goods and services which allows cash flow. There are records of businesses being resuscitated, lives transformed, capital increased and access to finance. It is certain that the cash transfers will sustain businesses even after Corona.