By Kemo Cham
[First published by www.politicosl.com] The international community’s
intervention in the payment of Ebola response workers saved Sierra Leone US$10M
(Le60 billion), a new United Nations report has revealed.
The report released Wednesday said
lives were saved because Ebola response workers got paid on time which
prevented recurrent strike actions that had been caused by confusion created by
delay in their payment. By using digital payments to pay Ebola response workers,
Sierra Leone massively cut payment times, avoiding large-scale strikes and
ensuring a stable workforce to defeat Ebola, the report authors said, adding
that the Sierra Leonean experience showed the critical importance of preparing
early for digital payments before crises hit.
Sierra Leone was one of three
countries hardest hit by the 2014-2016 deadly epidemic which claimed over 11,
000 lives in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
At some point of the epidemic,
response was chaotic
as workers, protesting irregular and delay in payment of
their allowances, refused to work. There were even allegations of corruption.
All this happened as patients die in
need of much needed care.
This study, conducted by the UN
affiliated Better Than Cash Alliance, employed a technology that used mobile
phones as ‘digital wallets’ so that workers received their pay via mobile phone
text messaging. This way they collected their allowances at the nearest
financial centers across the country.
This ensured that payment times were reduced from over one month on average to one week. It
prevented the loss of around 800 working days per month from the Ebola
response workforce, and for the response workers it saved them a total of
around $80,000 per month in travel costs by avoiding lengthy journeys to cash
payment centers, the report notes.
US$10.7 million was saved from for
the government, taxpayers, development partners and response workers, the
equivalent of funding the Free Health Care Program targeting under-five
children, pregnant women and lactating mothers, the report adds. It said the
vast majority of the cost savings were due to eliminating payments to people
who were not legitimate Ebola response workers, known as “ghost workers”.
The authors said that with economic
instability, natural disasters and political conflict now taking place at
unprecedented rates, this research offered valuable lessons on how to harness
the power of technology to help emergency workers reach more people by paying
them digitally during crises.
Crucially, Sierra Leone’s experience
shows the critical importance of governments, companies, and international
organizations working together to develop policy frameworks, infrastructure and
operating guidelines for digital payments before crises strike, a statement
released through the African Press Organization said.
\
“Ebola response workers put their
lives at risk every day. It was vitally important they received all the money
they earned, with no skimming or theft. They got it immediately, as their
families had no other income; and only legitimate workers got paid – no one
else. Paying Ebola response workers directly into a digital wallet instead of
cash met these goals, saved lives and over $10 million,” said Dr. Ruth Goodwin-Groen, Managing Director of The Better
Than Cash Alliance (BTCA).
BTCA is a group of businesses,
government organizations, and philanthropic foundations with a goal of moving
the global economy to a cashless system. Some of its notable members include
the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Ford Foundation, MasterCard, Omidyar Network, USAID, United Nations Capital Development Fund, and Visa Inc..
“Sierra Leone’s experience shows the
critical importance of developing and implementing national policy frameworks
and supporting infrastructure to drive effective and flexible digital payments
ecosystems in advance of humanitarian crises,” added Goodwin-Groen.
Momodu L. Kargbo, Minister of
Finance and Economic Development, was quoted recommitting the country’s efforts
for an inclusive payment system.
“Sierra Leone’s firsthand experience
with digital payments and its impact on Ebola response and control taught us
that, Governments like ours must take this growing payment system seriously as
it can significantly contribute to inclusive growth and transparency,” he said.
He added: “In developing the
partnership with private sector, development organizations, the Central Bank,
financial institutions, network providers; and building the foundation for an
inclusive digital payment system, Government must take the lead.”
UK’s Development Minister: President
Koroma’s Recovery Priorities are “ambitious, realistic and necessary” and will
bring profound change
In his first official visit to
Sierra Leone as a Minister, Nick Hurd, the UK’s International Development
Minister, has described President Ernest Bai Koroma’s plan for Sierra Leone’s
economic recovery as “ambitious, realistic and necessary”, saying that it would
bring profound change to the country which is recovering from double impact of
Ebola and the crash in commodity prices.
In an exclusive discussion on the
President’s Recovery Priorities, he said: “Business as usual in Sierra Leone is
not good enough for the country to recover and achieve what we all need it to
achieve. The President’s vision is to take energy, momentum and drive that
Sierra Leone demonstrated as a people to defeat Ebola, into some of the other
development challenges the country faces. The British Government has heard the
message clearly and we have come to the table with a big package of support.”
The President’s Recovery Priorities
represent a multi-stakeholder program of investment into education, energy,
governance, health, private sector development, social protection and access to
water. It is led by Government of Sierra Leone, and is intended to drive
sustainable socio-economic transformation in Sierra Leone following the twin
shocks of the Ebola Virus Epidemic and falling commodity prices.
The UK’s Minister said that
Britain’s partnership with Sierra Leone had been characterized by some big
successes: “Helping end the civil war, the painful and difficult journey to
contain and control Ebola, and now it is as important to our partnership to
support the President’s Recovery Priorities.
“What we like about this plan is
that the President has set in place a process of planning and implementation
that is going to be accountable to the people, with explicit targets in key
areas- whether in terms of energy access, lives saved, and improvements in the
health system, or the key infrastructure which is needed in the country.”
A key goal of the president’s
Recovery Priorities is to double access to power by 2017. Nick Hurd, who was
also in Sierra Leone to sign a compact agreement with the Government of Sierra
Leone to promote the use of solar power, said renewables could play an important
role in delivering that objective.
“We can add a lot of value through
Energy Africa, which is about bringing household solar systems, particularly to
communities which otherwise might have to wait a long time to be connected to
the grid. Sierra Leone is blessed with many things including a lot of sunshine.
The technology has become more affordable. On Wednesday I was proud to sign,
with the Honorable Minister Macauley, the first compact that the British
Government has with another country. Ninety percent of the country still does
not have access to energy and this is a sign of how determined and energetic
Sierra Leone’s government is being in correcting that wrong.
“These are the profound changes that
we want to be part of helping to deliver in Sierra Leone, so that when
President Koroma’s leadership comes to an end, the nation will want to carry on
forward and not slip backwards.”
(C) Politico 19/05/16
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