Sigwe residents benefit from EU financial assistance

On 20 May 2016, EU Ambassador, Nicola Bellomo, visited Sigwe Constituency in the to witness the disbursement of mobile money to elderly people affected by the current El Nin- driven drought situation affecting Swaziland and the region.

The money is part of the E10 million (600 000 Euros) which the European Union has made available through the European Commission Humanitarian Office (ECHO) to help mitigate the impact of the drought situation in Swaziland.

More than 500 beneficiaries turned up to receive their money (E500 each) and most of them used it to buy mealie meal and rice from a nearby truck which had brought the food to the constituency.

During this event the EU Ambassador was joined by the Minister of Sports, Culture and Youth, David Ngcamphalala, who is the local MP, EU Head of Cooperation, Ariane Labat, ECHO Adviser, Jacqueline Chinora, the CEO of the National Disaster Management Agency, Russel Dlamini, the Finnish Red Cross Regional Programme Coordinator, Kaisa Rouvinen as well as representative of MTN Swaziland.

Overall, this project supports more than 21 000 people from 4 200 households in six constituencies of Sigwe, , Matsanjeni, Hosea, and Shiselweni I which are all food insecure as a result of the drought. The assistance covers eight months from March to October 2016. The project is being implemented by the Finnish Red Cross in collaboration with Baphalali Swaziland Red Cross Society.

Addressing the beneficiaries before the disbursement of the money, EU Ambassador, Nicola Bellomo, said the EU was pleased to offer this support which he said has been made available to help mitigate the impact of the drought situation in Swaziland.

The Ambassador said the EU would continue to support such programmes that reach out to the poor and needy and urged the beneficiaries to make sure use the money they receive to buy food for their families as this was the intended purpose of this EU support.