This was during the 12th and final payment done in Douala on Tuesday.
Beneficiaries of the poverty alleviation project dubbed, ‘Safety Net’ have expressed gratitude to government for enabling them to hop out of poverty.
Speaking during the thanksgiving ceremony which also coincided with the 12th and final payment, the representative of the beneficiaries said at first they did not believe in the project as it was too good to be true but after the first payments were made, many people got interested and money received from the project enabled them set up income generating activities.
According to the coordinator of the Safety Net project, Njoh Michellin, the project consists of dishing out 20,000 FCFA to the beneficiaries after every two months over a period of two years.
On the sixth payment, they are given the sum of 80,000 FCFA to enable them set up a business and on the 12th and last payment they are given the same amount, this time to increase the scale of the business they must have set up.
The project does not only dole out but also offers advice on how to set up and manage an income generating activity, sensitized on the need for hygiene, education and establishing birth certificates for their children.
In return, beneficiaries carry out human investment activities and are recruited to work in labour intensive projects where they are paid 1,600 FCFA on a daily basis so as to enable them make more money.
The project initiated in 2004 finally took off in 2014 in five regions including, the Far north, North, Adamawa, East and North West as well as the cities of Douala and Yaounde.
According to the field operations officer for the Littoral, Delphine Yith, 500 beneficiaries were chosen in Douala from an initial list of 1,500 people on the basis of investigations carried out by the National Institute of Statistics.
“my life is better now. I have been able to start a firewood business and send my children to school with money received from the project”, says Mbakop Elisabeth, a beneficiary of the project.