Q&A: How is Angola Reaching the Poor and Vulnerable During Covid-19?
Josefina Nangombe and André Himi are among more than 247,000 heads of households benefiting from the country’s new cash transfer program, Kwenda. Both live in the Huila Province of Angola—a region famous for basket-making—and began receiving quarterly government payments of 25,500 kz, approximately $40, last summer. The COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, coupled with falling oil prices in Angola has resulted in an economic crisis expected to have major detrimental impacts on human capital and poverty levels. Under these circumstances, Kwenda has been a lifeline for those like Josefina and André. With the new funds, Josefina, a mother of four, is acquiring pigs for breeding which she will sell, using that income to support her family. André, a skeptic at first, now sees hope for his dream of educating his children come true.
