28 Sep 2010

MALAWI / AIDS

UNICEF and the government of Malawi are working together to helping the poorest ten percent in the country who have been impacted by HIV/AIDS through an innovative cash transfer program where families receive money for basic necessities and school supplies for children. UNICEF

Posted at: September 28, 2010 11:26 am

Duration: 02:37

Available in: SD

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Full script

STORY: MALAWI / AIDS
TRT: 2:37
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: CHEWA / ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 24 AUGUST 2010, MCHINJE DISTRICT, MALAWI
 
SHOTLIST:

1. Med shot, Rozina Chimbalani washes plates with grandchildren 
2. Wide shot, Rozina's house
3. Med shot, pots being cleaned
4. SOUNDBITE (Chewa) Rozina Chimbalani, 77-year-old grandmother: 
"Life is difficult as I'm too old to work but – but I have been left with no choice but to go into field to try and grow some maize to eat."
5. Wide shot, village cash transfer committee meeting under a tree 
6. Close up, Jim Wotchi Assistant Social Welfare Officer, Mchinje
7. Med shot, Rozina receiving money from Thomson Mwale, accounts assistant
8. Close up, Rozina giving a thumbprint and cash being handed over
9. Med shot of money being given
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Thomson Mwale, Accounts Assistant, Mchinje District:
"I have given her 2,200 (USD$14.00) because she is an elderly. She cannot work on her own. She is labour constrained and she has dependents who need to go to school."
11. Close up. bag of maize
12. Close up, Rozina watching
13. Med shot, Rozina receives bag of maize and puts it on her head
14. Close up, granddaughter writing in book
15. Close up, page being written on 
16. Med shot, two grandchildren working
17. Wide shot, children working as Rozina sits by them
18. SOUNDBITE (English) Taylor Spadafora, Social Protection, Consultant, UNICEF Malawi:
"This is about trusting people knowing they are going to do the right thing with the money. These people have needs they know their priorities. They know they want their kids in school and want them to be healthy and well nourished. And they use the money how it's needed most"
19. Med shot, Rozina pulls a piglet out of sty
20. Close up, piglets
21. Wide shot, pigs and piglets
22. SOUNDBITE (Chewa) Rozina Chimbalani, 77-year-old grandmother: 
"This project has changed my life. If I didn't get a cash transfer I would be miserable and might even have died by now and the kids would be on their own." 
23.  Various shots, maize being tossed
24. Med shot, Rozina with her pigs

STORYLINE:
 
Life has not been kind to Rozina Chimbalani.

When her daughter died four years ago, she was left with no choice but to look after her grandchildren.

This type of family is not unusual here.  Malawi has been hit badly by HIV and AIDS and over a million children are orphaned and struggling to survive.

SOUNDBITE (Chewa) Rozina Chimbalani, 77-year-old grandmother: 
"Life is difficult as I'm too old to work but, but I have been left with no choice but to go into field to try and grow some maize to eat."

But now an innovative pilot project run by committees of local villagers assesses their own neighbours to establish whether they are among the poorest ten percent of the community.

For the last two years, Rozina has qualified and is receiving money as part of what's called a cash transfer scheme.

Along with her grandchildren, she's one just 28,000 families who've been part of this new project run by government and donors targeting Malawi's poorest of the poor.

According to the rules of the scheme Rozina gets the equivalent of about (USD) $14 dollars a month.

SOUNDBITE (English) Taylor Spadafora, Social Protection, Consultant, UNICEF Malawi:
"I have given her 2,200 because she is an elderly. She cannot work on her own. She is labour constrained and she has dependents who need to go to school."

How the money is spent is up to Rozina. Having already eaten the crops from her own field, this month's priority is food. This fifty kilogram bag of maize should last about six weeks.

Cash transfers have also been shown to have a real educational benefit. Rozina has spent some of her money on books and research shows that children in families that receive the money become healthier and more likely to stay in school.
 
SOUNDBITE (English) Taylor Spadafora, Social Protection, Consultant, UNICEF Malawi:
"This is about trusting people knowing they are going to do the right thing with the money. These people have needs they know their priorities. They know they want their kids in school and want them to be healthy and well nourished. And they use the money how it's needed most."

Having saved a little, she invested the money in a pig - which has now given birth to six little piglets.

SOUNDBITE (Chewa) Rozina Chimbalani, 77-year-old grandmother: 
"This project has changed my life. If I didn't get the cash transfer my life would be miserable and I might even have died by now leaving the children on their own."

Having seen the difference the pilot project has made for people like Rozina, the Malawian government are hoping to extend it nationwide in the next five years. It will cost $60 million dollars a year to provide a safety net for Malawi's poorest people.