02 December 2009
Tiyese Banda is 66 years old. She lives with two of her children and six orphaned grandchildren in a two-roomed house in Goya village in Zambia. Tiyese is the family breadwinner. She used to have nine children overall, but five have died. After the death of the children who used to care for her, life was tough. She struggled to work in other people’s gardens and fields to scrape a living. She worked her own small field though the yield was poor.
In 2008, Tiyese was selected to take part in a pilot social cash transfer programme which provides small, but regular support to some of the poorest people in the country. More than 11,000 households receive cash transfers of between £7 and £25 each per month through programmes run by the government of Zambia with support from DFID and other partners.
Tiyese receives £7 a month. But this is enough to buy food and to help keep her grandchildren in school. Tiyese says, "I am very grateful for the support. Last month I was able to send ZKw100,000 (£12) to one of my grandchildren who is going to school but lives with a relative in a different community."