The Minister of Social Solidarity (MSS) Isabel Amaral said currently more than 50.000 children in Timor-Leste receive a maternal subsidy across the entire territory.
She said the support helps vulnerable families and their children to have access to education because many children drop out of school for financial reasons.
“For this year, we have proposed $8 million dollars to be able to support 50.000 vulnerable children to access an education,” said Minister Amaral at the National Parliament, in Dili.
She added that her ministry will work with local community leaders to identify those children who deserve to receive the subsidy and to improve the accuracy of the data base system.
The children of vulnerable families aged 0 to 17 will be able to access the support of access to an education and also access to health treatment.
Minister Guterres added that each child received $5 every month and payments are done in lump sums every six months by MSS and BNCTL teams that travel to where beneficiaries are in the country to disburse the payments.
Member of Parliament MP Eladio Faculto said that even though every year the parliament allocates funds for the Bolsa da Mãe maternal program to support vulnerable children, often the program does not follow the outlined objectives.
“Definitions need to be clear so that those who truly deserve the assistance get it,” said MP Faculto.
He urged those implementing the program to undertake regular checks to the database of beneficiaries.
Local resident Emilia da Silva urged relevant ministries to conduct regular socialization of the program to communities in remote areas because they are unaware of it.
“I myself have no information about this program and no one has informed us about it,” she added.
She urged the teams that work with communities to share information to all and not just to those they know because everyone who meets the criteria is entitled to receive the subsidy.
