In light of the impacts of the unprecedented Covid pandemic, Save the Children Fiji, in its humanitarian response, is supporting vulnerable households affected by income and job losses with cash assistance.

The Digital Cash Transfer Project was well received and was extended to help even more vulnerable families as a result of the covid pandemic. The program is aimed at supporting household resilience and contributes to building a better world for children and their families, helping to meet their basic needs.

Save the Children Fiji’s Digital Cash Transfer Project has so far assisted 16,772 of the existing beneficiary families with the first round of payments being distributed on the 22nd of August. The second round of payments scheduled for this group of beneficiaries will occur on the 24th of September.

Save the Children Fiji’s Chief Executive Officer, Shairana Ali says that an additional 22,228 beneficiaries will be identified with payments scheduled between October and December. All households included in the program will be registered by Save the Children Fiji in cooperation with its project partners. There is no application or registration process to receive payments. We are working with the Fiji government and other civil society partners who already have really good data available on vulnerable households and therefore, payments will only be made to households that meet our selection criteria.

Unfortunately,it has come to Save the Children Fiji’s attention that certain individuals are falsely acting as project representatives advising community members that they need to register with them in order to be eligible for assistance from the Digital Cash Transfer Project. These individuals then charge a fee for this service.

Save the Children Fiji wishes to reiterate that households do not need to give favors or pay money to anyone in order to receive cash assistance or to increase the possibility of receiving assistance. There are no representatives of Save the Children Fiji or any other organizations who are registering people.

Save the Children Fiji CEO, Shairana Ali, says that “it is sad to know that there are individuals out there who are taking advantage of the current situation and misleading and trying to take advantage of vulnerable families. We have informed relevant authorities who have assured us that these perpetrators will face the full brunt of the law. We urge families to email us if any individual approaches them on behalf of SC Fiji or asks for their personal details. ”

“I encourage the general public to email our office on Info.Fiji@savethechildren.org  or refer to our Facebook page or website for further information regarding our Digital Cash Transfer Project,” she continued.

The second round of payments scheduled for 16,772 beneficiaries will occur on the 24th of September. Each household will receive $200 cash assistance to meet their basic needs.  

For media enquiries, please contact:

Fiji: Karen.Chute@savethechildren.org

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