The Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation is looking for­ward to provide 15,000 new recipients with assistance this year.

The Permanent Secretary Dr Josefa Koroi­vueta said there were 78,570 recipients under the Social Welfare programmes.

“The Social Welfare programmes cover the disadvantaged children, families, elderly and persons living with disabilities,” he said.

“As of December 2018 there are 3438 (four per cent) recipients in maritime areas and an estimated 23,571(30 per cent) in rural ar­eas.”

Dr Koroivueta said the ministry had 20 Dis­trict Welfare Offices located in the urban, rural and maritime islands from which the provision of services were coordinated.

This is to monitor and regulate new welfare recipients in places that are inaccessible such as in the rural and maritime areas.

“These services include conducting aware­ness, making family assessment and con­ducting assessments on new welfare recipi­ents and reviewing existing recipients,” he said.

The ministry has annually set targets to conduct reviews on recipients to determine their continuity. This action is taken to mon­itor that there is no abuse of funds.

“The individual reviews are also conducted when there is a complaint or alleged abuse is reported,” Dr Koroivueta said.

Edited by Percy Kean

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