NaCSA’s Emergency Cash Transfer is Free

It could be recalled that on the 25th May 2020, the National Commission for Social Action (NaCSA) announced the commencement of the Covid-19 Emergency Cash Transfers to households with vulnerable informal sector workers including those working in micro and small enterprises and low paid workers in the service sector.

The IEC unit has observed with dismay that certain unscrupulous persons are collecting money from innocent citizens with a promise to enroll them as beneficiaries. We wish to inform all Sierra Leoneans that the Commission is working with relevant institutions like the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), Statistics Sierra Leone, Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Labour and Social Security Freetown City Council and other councils to ensure that the right beneficiaries are targeted.

Kindly note that once you have started receiving the cash, nobody is supposed to take it from you. Prospective beneficiaries should not offer or pay anything to anybody in order to be enrolled. Any attempted extortion or corrupt practices must be reported to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) by calling the toll-free number 515 or directly to ACC Community Monitors or other ACC officials.

The objective of the emergency cash transfers (ECTs) is to: Protect the wellbeing of households that are expected to be especially vulnerable to the impacts of COVID-19. The ECT will provide these targeted households with financial support to help them cope with the immediate negative impact on their wellbeing, smoothing consumption, and supplementing lost or reduced income.

The transfer amount will be a one-off payment of SLL 1,309,000. In addition to the list provided by participating organizations, NaCSA, and its partners have developed three-stage targeting criteria for one to be beneficiaries of the emergency cash transfer. The Pre-list is not a determiner to be a beneficiary; the Commission has developed an ODK tool to records responses that will determine your beneficiary status.

In conclusion, a light proxy-means test would be applied to identify the most vulnerable workers from the list provided by different organizations. The exercise starts with validating the lists provided by City Councils, Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Traders Associations, Employers Federation, Microfinance Institutions, and other organized market groups.