Cash transfers helping single mothers and teen mothers to meet daily subsistence during the COVID-19 pandemic
Kampire, 23 years old, is a single mother living in Nyanza District. She is one of 240 single mothers and teen mothers from Nyanza, Gisagara, Nyaruguru and Karongi Districts who received COVID-19 food relief through cash transfers to help them survive during the COVID-19 lockdown. The one-off cash transfers were done on 11th June 2020 by ActionAid Rwanda in partnership with Faith Victory Association through Speak out Project funded by the UK Aid.
Each teen mother received 10,300 Frw (Approx.11$) and the total amount of food relief provided to the 240 single and teen mothers through cash transfers is 2,472,000 Frw (approx. 2,630 $).
Before COVID-19 outbreak in Rwanda, these single and teen mothers used to do casual works to earn a living, but due to COVID-19 lockdown, they were not allowed to work yet they had to pay for daily expenses.
According to Kampire, this cash support came at the right time since it was difficult for her to get money to pay for this year’s health insurance subscription for herself and her baby.
“The money I received from ActionAid Rwanda helped me to pay for the health insurance subscription for me and my baby, then with the remaining amount, I bought other items that I needed,” Kampire noted.
As noted by Josephine Irene Uwamariya, the Country Director of ActionAid Rwanda, the cash support was meant to help the supported single mothers and teen mothers meet daily subsistence during these trying times of COVID-19 pandemic.
“Single mothers and teen mothers that we supported with cash transfers are those who were very vulnerable and mostly affected by COVID-19 lockdown. Most of them were casual workers relying on getting casual works from businesses which were closed because of the lockdown. They used to rely on daily wages and now they find themselves with empty pockets, yet they must feed themselves and their babies,” Josephine said.
