Many of neediest missed out on COVID welfare
Lack of documentation, informal sector cited as hurdles in CAPRI report
Published:Friday | July 16, 2021 | 12:12 AMDavid Salmon/Gleaner Writer
Many of the neediest Jamaicans did not access state welfare to cushion the blows of the COVID-19 pandemic because they live on the fringes of the informal sector or do not have official identification, a study by the Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CAPRI) has found.
Launched late Thursday, the study, titled Locked Down, Locked Out: Vulnerable Communities in the Pandemic, surveyed 1,500 persons in 24 communities across nine parishes between July and August 2020.
A major finding of the study was that fewer than half, or 43 per cent, of respondents in both rural and urban communities applied for grants offered under the CARE programme. Of this number, 37 per cent of individuals were unsuccessful.
The report indicated that a major reason for this occurrence is the high rates of undocumented individuals.
Currently, 200,000 Jamaicans, or an estimated eight per cent of the population, do not have any legal identification. This automatically made them ineligible to receive cash grants.
That problem was exacerbated by the fact that 20 per cent of Jamaicans are also unbanked.
Therefore, persons within this category who qualified for grants had to wait in long queues, with little social distancing. Thus, the fear of contracting COVID-19 represented one of the reasons why persons were apprehensive about applying.
Other responses provided included reservations about interacting with a government agency, lack of confidence in filling out CARE forms, and the perception that candidates would face discrimination according to political affiliation.
Another point of concern is that 27 per cent, or one in four respondents, did not know about the CARE programme altogether.
Additionally, respondents highlighted that the one-off compassionate grant of $10,000, which most persons accessed, was woefully inadequate to meet daily needs.
“Instead of J$10,000, they should have given us something that we could live off - like 12 live chickens and two bags of feed, seeds, and water to help us grow our own food,” said an unnamed resident of Corn Piece Settlement, Clarendon, who was cited in the report.
“People here at home all day with nothing to do … . The Government should give them things to help them survive long term because we do not have an end date for corona.”
Challenges were also noted with the COVID-19 small-business grant.
Applicants needed to be active taxpayers with updated business registration to be eligible. This requirement automatically ruled out businesses within the informal economy. Two in five Jamaicans are currently employed in the informal sector.
Furthermore, the report also found that the15 business days for professionals, such as barbers, hairdressers, market vendors, and taxi operators, to register for the general grant, was also insufficient.
This scheme did not apply to informal, and likely the neediest, businesses, the report found.
To obtain the general grant of $25,000 available, hairdressers, barbers, beauty therapists, cosmetologists, market vendors, and licensed taxi and bus operators had to be registered with a municipal corporation or the Transport Authority.
Key recommendations
1. Use those with knowledge of the community, coordinated by the Social Development
Commission (SDC), to improve targeting of relief for the poor.
2. Simplify the information communicated, in both content and format, for specific target
audiences.
3. Use town criers with properly timed and clear messages since this mode is already widely
used in rural areas to communicate upcoming events.
4. Use the community development committees (CDCs), youth clubs, and senior citizens
Clubs which exist in many communities, and are known to the SDC, to take information to the community level. Small grants can be provided as these tasks take time, effort, and transportation. Proper documentation must be a condition.
5. Provide a safe and reliable corridor for community shops to remain stocked with supplies and provisions.
6. Encourage financial inclusion among PATH beneficiaries to facilitate emergency welfare payments.
7. Establish and maintain a national registry of the disabled in poor communities.
8. Expand the cadre of social workers going into communities to monitor children’s safety and well-being.