The Minister for Social Welfare, Women and Poverty Alleviation, Dr Jiko Luveni has urged the Dorcas Welfare Organisation to partner with the ministry in efforts to help the disadvantaged.
The call was made during a prayer vigil attended by 200 women at the Lower Civic Auditorium.
Dorcas is the welfare arm of Seventh Day Adventist church, which assists the disadvantaged through social work and care through its 350 church-bases spread throughout the country.
“I appreciate the representation of Dorcas in our Women’s Advisory Committee. In the progress of providing empowerment for the women of Fiji, my ministry through the network of more than 1700 women’s groups has developed a network that can enable women’s groups to incorporate the assistance from the ministry,” Dr Luveni said.
The minister highlighted that as of August 22 this year, there were 592 Food Voucher recipients, children assisted under the Care and Protection Programme is 5504 and there are 10,839 recipients of the Social Pension Scheme.
The scheme is a new initiative by the ministry where every person 70-year-old and over, not receiving any form of superannuation, is entitled to receive $30 month.
From 2015, the pension will be increased to $50 a month.
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