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United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Kosovo, in immediate response to COVID-19, and in line with its mandate to eradicate poverty and reduce inequalities, handed over today vouchers to the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare/ Department for Social Policy and Families to be distributed to 2,000 families, beneficiaries of Social Assistance. This support, implemented for the first time in Kosovo, will allow for the families to purchase food, hygiene and other essential items that they most urgently need over the next three months. The support is realized through the direct financial support of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Support is targeted to families in difficult situations, mainly single parent households and other families in vulnerable situations.
Mr. Skender Reçica, Minister of Labour and Social Welfare (MLSW), Ms. Shkipe Deda Gjurgjiali, Portofolio Manager for Sustainable Development at UNDP, Mr. Mentor Morina, Director of Department for Social Policy and Families (DSPF), and MLSW, DSPF and UNDP officials were present at the handover event.
Minister Reçica, who accepted the vouchers to be distributed to the beneficiaries stated: “At these difficult times of pandemic, helping families from vulnerable groups, beneficiaries of social assistance, shows, in the best way possible our engagement and commitment as MLSW to give a helping hand to the citizens who need our support. I want to thank the government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg for the financial support and UNDP for the implementation of the scheme to support as much as possible in fulfilling the needs of the vulnerable groups. For the next three months, they will have additional means to make their life a bit more tolerable”.
Shkipe Deda Gjurgjiali from UNDP emphasized the importance of the pilot scheme which is being implemented for the first time in Kosovo: “The situation of the people who live on social assistance has worsened even more with the pandemic. With this scheme we want to give those 2,000 selected families the option to purchase necessities they need the most and have not been provided through other humanitarian aid. We are grateful to the Government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg for the financial assistance and for being our partner throughout these difficult months. I also want to thank the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare and Minister Reçica personally, our long-term partners in tackling unemployment and poverty in Kosovo.
Natacha Gomes, Chargée d’Affaires at the Embassy of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in her statement emphasized: “I am proud that the government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg has proven, once again, our strong commitment towards helping the people of Kosovo. Throughout these difficult months, we have partnered with UNDP and already provided much needed test kits and mobile ventilators to help fight the pandemic. Our latest contribution, assistance to 2,000 families in need, shows we are doing our best to soften the deep crisis from the pandemic and address the humanitarian aspect of the crisis. I want to thank UNDP for introducing the voucher scheme and for the very successful partnership. Once again, I would like to send a message to all to exercise caution and follow preventive measures in place confident that we will overcome this challenge”.
About the Programme
Vouchers/coupons are provided to three categories:
- the families with 1-4 members shall be provided with 180 euro for 3 months (60x3)
- the families with 5-7 members shall be provided with 210 euro for 3 months (70x3)
- the families with 8 members shall be provided with 240 euro for 3 months (80x3).
This donation was provided as part of the Response to COVID-19 Mitigation of Impact of Health and Humanitarian Crisis Basic social protection to the most vulnerable groups provided by the Government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, , through LuxDev, for a total amount of 1 million EUR.
Currently, around 25,000 families benefit from the Social Assistance Scheme with around 100,000 members. This number varies over the years however, following the COVID-19 pandemic, it is assessed that the number has increased due to the fact that people have lost their jobs.
This activity is implemented close cooperation with MLSW/ DSPF and Centers for Social Work (CSW) to temporarily support 2000 vulnerable families that are living in extreme poverty by providing vouchers/coupons that would be used for the period of three months to provide food, hygiene and other essential items. The main target groups of beneficiaries shall be families without incomes, single parent households, families with persons with special needs and poor families living in rural areas.
Working at the heart of UN Kosovo Team, UNDP in Kosovo has been supporting the people and institutions of Kosovo to prepare for, respond to, and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic since the outbreak, focusing particularly on the most vulnerable. We have rapidly shifted focus, responding swiftly and efficiently and reorienting our programme to assist Kosovo’s efforts to stop the spread of the virus, helping to protect people from the pandemic and its impacts, respond during the outbreak, and recover from the economic and social impacts in the months to come.
To learn more about our work to fight the pandemic, please visit our page: https://www.ks.undp.org/content/kosovo/en/home/covid-19-pandemic-response.html
For more information, please contact:
Burbuqe Dobranja, UNDP Communications Associate
Phone: (038) 249 066 ext. 410; mobile: 049 720 800 e-mail: burbuqe.dobranja@undp.org
Danijela Mitić, Communication Associate UNDP
Phone: (038) 249 066 ext. 412; mobile: 049 720 824 e-mail: danijela.mitic@undp.org
