How cash transfers are empowering women in Eswatini
In a country ravaged by unchecked inflation and sporadic civil unrest, two women make the first steps towards self-reliance
By Manmeet Kaur and Gabriela Vivacqua
Meet Thabisile
Thabisile Dlamini is a strong woman. She fights daily and still supports her family of 12 including eight grandchildren singlehandedly. It is not unusual in this part of the world for grandmothers to step in as guardians to young children. In most cases, the children’s parents have either passed or migrated in search of jobs. As Thabisile is left to fend for the children by herself, a WFP cash grant, coupled with her enterprising spirit, is helping her to ensure her family has enough food to eat.
‘With hard work and commitment my children never go to bed without food.”
She has used the assistance she gets to not only to put enough food on the table but has stretched it to ensure her grandchildren’s education does not suffer. She doesn’t just want them to go hungry today, she also wants them to have opportunities that she did not have.
“This support has changed my life. I can provide for my family and it gave me the possibility to set up a shop,” says Thabisile.
Meet Linah
Linah Nkambule is celebrating her 64th birthday this year. But retirement is far from her mind. She is supporting a family of nine. Battling through a chronic illness, she has seen the ebb and flow of life in her community. Notwithstanding the challenges, Linah’s mind is solely focused on ploughing in her fields where she grows maize, the country’s staple.
‘With hard work and commitment my children never go to bed without food,” she says.
Between a rock and a hard place
Weather-related shocks, high disease incidents and socio-economic shocks compounded by poor GDP growth have continually driven the food security landscape in Eswatini.
Linah is feeling the pinch as food prices have skyrocketed. The little money she has is not enough to buy adequate food. The price of basic food commodities has increased due to the global increase in fuel prices, with cereal prices up by over 34 percent in just one year, according to the latest estimates.
“The increase in food prices really affected us.”
Analysts say the country’s GDP growth slowed down to 0.4 percent in 2022 from 7.9 percent a year ago and annual inflation went up to 4.8 percent, making life even more challenging for people who were already living on the brink of survival.
WFP support
Linah is receiving WFP support on account of her old age and illness. WFP’s cash assistance activities prioritise vulnerable children, women and people living with disabilities. She receives the equivalent of US$ 11 per month in local currency and buys food to complement what she grows. With the surplus, she is able to hire a tractor to plough her field and buy fertilizers to boost production. She also invested some of the money towards breeding chickens.
“The increase in food prices really affected us, but now instead of buying maize, I am growing it, which costs less and I can save some money. I am also able to buy rice and fruits to add to what I grow.”
Nearly 260,000 people — equivalent to 22 percent of the population — faced high levels of acute food insecurity at the peak of the hunger season in March. With support from partners such as the European Union and Germany, WFP is helping people like Thabisile and Linah and some 45,000 others to make the first steps out of the hunger trap.
