The Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation will establish mobile units to ensure that its services can be easily accessed in remote or isolated parts of the country.
The Honorable Minister, Mrs Rosy Akbar says that mobile units will be one of the significant strategies to improve Ministry’s service delivery.
“These units will help the Ministry to increase its reach to communities in rural and maritime zones. Particularly, we are looking forward to expand the Ministry’s services in outer islands. We don’t have a fixed clientele and this year, the Ministry will intensify its efforts to increase its reach to the poor and disadvantaged families in Fiji. In fact, there is now a full time social welfare officer and welfare office opened in Vunisea, Kadavu last week,” the Minister said.
“The Ministry has adopted an integrated approach to alleviate poverty by working closely with other ministries like health, education, agriculture, fisheries and forestry. These ministries also have poverty alleviation programs aligned to their budget. More so, having the Poverty Monitoring Unit under the Ministry will strengthen the evaluation and monitoring mechanisms for poverty alleviation programs in Fiji.”
The Ministry, she said has taken a coordinated and compassionate approach to deliver its services in 2015.
“The Ministry’s public consultations will continue throughout Fiji, in second quarter. The core of Ministry’s services is based on compassionate approach when dealing with issues concerning the welfare of women and children.
“Given the support that the Ministry continues to receive from Non-Government Organisations and Faith Based Organisations, it is very encouraging and with which the Ministry can confidently deliver its services to all the Fijians,” Minister Akbar said.
The Ministry currently assists the following number of people through the programs outlined below:
· Poverty Benefit Scheme (PBS): 19, 453 recipients all over Fiji
· Care & Protection Allowance (C&P): 2,398 families
· Social Pension Scheme (SPS): 12, 171 senior citizens
· Expanded Food Voucher Programme: 1,673 pregnant women in rural areas
· Bus Fare Scheme – 44,096 senior citizens and persons living with disabilities
· Elderly – 42,364
· Persons with Disability – 1,732
DEPTFO