The Tribune

By FARRAH JOHNSON

THE Department of Social Services has recently certified more than 1,000 additional eligible Bahamian families to use re-loadable pre-paid Visa cards instead of their food assistance coupons. Almost 3,000 people are now using the cards, five months since the launch of the scheme.

Introduced in November 2014, the re-loadable pre-paid card is the first phase of the government’s Social Safety Net Programme, which according to the Minister of Social Services and Community Development, Melanie Griffin, “is to ensure that persons have access to food” and to give families a “fighting chance to rise out of poverty”.

“We are on the move and our work continues as the ultimate intent is, of course, for the card to be utilised throughout The Bahamas in the not too distant future,” Mrs Griffin said.

According to Mrs Griffin, one immediate advantage of the card is that “persons no longer have to come to the Centre at the end of each month and wait on lines to collect a paper coupon”. Another convenience that it offers, unlike the paper coupons, is that it allows the user the opportunity to shop at their preferred foodstore – as long as the card is accepted there. Additionally, the full credit of the card does not have to be used all at once, allowing for purchases to be spread out during the month. The card also offers privacy to its beneficiaries, removing the concern over identification and stigmatisation.

The latest recipients of the card were 1,078 at the Robinson Road centre on Friday while the centres at Fox Hill and Wulff Road have 823 and 741 registrations respectively, taking the total number of users to 2,642. The process at Robinson Road is not complete while the Horseshoe Drive centre, the only one left in New Providence to complete the full introduction of the card, is currently undergoing reassessments. Groundwork to introduce the card to Grand Bahama took place last week.

Mrs Griffin emphasised that the card can only be used in foodstores.

The Social Safety Net Programme is intended to modernise the social service delivery mechanism and will include a universally used procedure – the Conditional Cash Transfer Programme (CCT). It is a consolidation of several assistance programmes into one lump sum of monies to assist families in meeting their needs.