In a bid to ensure the sustainability of the social protection scheme, the Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation will review the program to ensure people aren’t dependent on the scheme for too long.
According to Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation Minister Lynda Tabuya, a review of the database has revealed many clients have been under the scheme for many years.
Ms Tabuya said social protection programs were meant only to deal with temporary shocks to deal with the loss of employment, natural disasters and pandemics, but people should not be on the programs for many years.
To achieve this, the ministry has allocated $200,000 towards the revival of the welfare graduation program.
Ms Tabuya said that through a partnership between the ministry and the Australian Government through APTC, a scholarship would be awarded to young people who recently turned 18 or leaving state homes while single men and women would undertake level two certificate engineering courses.
“This is an entry level course,” Ms Tabuya said.
“It doesn’t require any previous experience. We will work to place them upon graduation with apprenticeships.”
Ms Tabuya said by working with the Ministry of Education, her ministry would ensure that once technical colleges reopened, space would be allocated for social welfare recipients.
She also said in a move to ensure efficiency and identify the most vulnerable social-welfare recipients better, the ministry was digitising the social welfare database.
