The Interagency Taskforce on beggars that is spearheaded by the Ministry of Social Welfare, Women and Poverty Alleviation is exploring areas of employment and income generating opportunities for 40 beggars who have been profiled in Suva.
This emanates through an agreement signed in April this year between the Nazarene Church and the Ministry of Social Welfare, which will result in the establishment of a Rehabilitative facility at Colo-i-Suva.
The new facility has been designed to not only to provide accommodation but capacity building trainings for street beggars.
Minister for Social Welfare, Women and Poverty Alleviation Dr Jiko Luveni said street beggars will be able to get into employment and generate income after training for the required skills through the Ministry’s “Welfare Graduation Program.”
The program that has a budgetary allocation of $500,000 focuses on moving welfare recipients from “welfare to workfare.”
“Through the profiling exercise, the Taskforce has noted that most of the beggars are on social welfare assistance and we have also interviewed them on their interests in terms of employment and skills development.
The Ministry will assist them through vocational trainings and the Welfare Graduation program also provides start-up capital for the trainees to operate their income generating and small businesses.
“To date Ministry has recorded various success stories on the welfare recipients who are running their canteen, bread baking, handicraft, tailoring, vegetable stalls, poultry, bee keeping and catering business. These beneficiaries are able to earn good profit on a weekly basis-and they no longer have to depend on the fixed monthly welfare allowances-in fact some of them now have multiple economic projects,” Dr Luveni explained.
Minister Luveni said the work by Nazarene Church Fiji on the new Centre should begin as soon as funds are released from Ministry of Finance.
“Through the agreement signing, the government has committed to $100,000 for the new facility which will provide accommodation to street beggars who don’t have a place to stay.
“There is also zero tolerance on child begging and we have started to take them off the streets and place them into State care,” Minister Luveni said.
-ENDS-