Khabar Khair (Only Good News) – Fatima Rashad

     The Social Welfare Fund works to enroll ten thousand cases of the poorest groups in the social security cases that receive salaries from the fund, they are around 41,028 beneficiaries in Aden governorate.

    The Director of the Social Welfare Fund office, Majid Al-Shajri, told ” Khabar Khair (Only Good News)”: “We are currently working on enrolling ten thousand new cases and approving them, as we have completed monitoring the deserving cases, and the staff of the Fund has carried out the survey, and we are now waiting for the adoption of the budget.”

    Al-Shajri added: “We want to face difficulties by reactivating the role of the fund, and paying the beneficiaries’ dues every three months as it was previously, not in two phases, because this causes people to bear the burdens of life and the difficulty of living in light of the high prices, we live in.”

     He stressed that the fund is working to enroll the expected cases and obtain financial support for them, so that their dues can be paid, and currently there is no operating budget; This is because the fund was dependent on government reinforcement.”

     The total amount provided to the poorest families in Yemen from the Social Welfare Fund is 15,000 riyals per month; That is 15 US dollars, and this amount is very small, not even enough to buy a bag of wheat, and the beneficiaries are demanding a raise in the current circumstances.

    Khadija Mahyoub (beneficiary of the Welfare Fund) told ” Khabar Khair (Only Good News)”: “We used to receive it every three months, but today we receive it when the fund has the amounts due. I receive 15,000 riyals, and this amount does not suffice under the current circumstances we live in.” Khadija called on the comptent authorities to raise the amount approved for social security cases.

     Umm Youssef is also demanding an increase in the approved amounts for social security cases, and she says: I have orphans and I am waiting for the money of the fund, so that I can spend on my child, and this amount is delayed for months, which make things difficult for us and increases our suffering.”

      Saleh Ahmed (one of the beneficiaries of the fund’s assistance) told ” Khabar Khair (Only Good News “: The fund allocated an amount to him in addition to his low salary from the Ministry of Health, and with the delay in the fund’s assistance, he appreciates the difficulties the fund is going through in disbursing the salaries of social security cases.

Employees waiting for their salaries

     The Director of the Social Welfare Fund, Majid Al-Shajri, said: “One of the main challenges facing the staff in the Fund are the salaries of the employees. There was no item called a salary item, but rather there was support from the state.”

    He added: The salaries of the employees were paid by the central authority, which These are very small and low amounts. The lowest employee receives 30,000, estimated at 30 dollars, and the highest 70,000, estimated at 70 dollars, even though the fund has a well-trained and one of the most efficient cadres that work with dedication. And if this fund receives care from the state as it was before, it will return as it was and better.”.”

    Al-Shajri said: “There is suffering faced by the beneficiary and employee in the fund, which is the scarcity of income for the fund, which hopes to find a response to its demands to alleviate the suffering of employees and beneficiaries.”

     He stressed, “The fund seeks to link all its branches in Aden and other governorates. In each governorate and district there is a branch for the fund, and the most important branch is the Al-Mualla branch, which is considered the closest to the poorest beneficiaries, the elderly, divorced women, widows and the disabled who cannot come to the main center.”

   Al-Shajri called on organizations to pay attention to the Fund and to provide assistance to support the Fund’s efforts in monitoring cases in need of assistance.

     On her part, Awsan Muhammad (Director of Personnel Affairs), said: “The Fund stopped working after the events of 2015 AD, and the disbursement of approved cases and the approval of the expected cases, until UNICEF, with the participation of some organizations such as Borouji and Pullmen, took over the payment of the salaries of the social security cases “.

     Awsan called on the organizations and the authority to provide support to the fund, and demanded office equipment such as furniture and computers, because the ones that the fund has have been there for long period of time and is no longer usable. she also called for training the Fund’s employees, because they need refresher training courses, and providing operating expenses to cover the Fund’s necessary stationary needs and other expenses.

     The Social Welfare Fund was established in 1997, to contribute to alleviating poverty and the suffering of the needy and those affected by the economic situation in Yemen. So, it disbursed sums of money every three months, to be borne by the state, with contributions from organizations concerned with the humanitarian field and helping the needy.

    Throughout the previous years, the Welfare Fund has been working hard to provide assistance to the beneficiaries that is provided by the state; However, due to the conditions in the country, the Fund’s work has been suspended for months from disbursing these financial amounts to approved cases.

   The management of the fund seeks to link the branches and join them to the main center in Aden governorate and to integrate the expected cases in the compliance lists so that they are among the main cases benefiting from the fund’s service.