ARITCLE - "TI MANMAN CHERI"

"TI MANMAN CHERI", 100,000 BENEFICIARIES BY THE END OF THE YEAR
(Haiti Libre) -

Laurent Lamothe,  Prime Minister and the First Lady, Sophia Martelly, who represented for the event, the President of the Republic, officially launched Sunday, May 27, the Programme "Ti Manman Cheri 'at the Institution Mixte Union des Apôtres, in Cité Soleil, in the presence of members of the Ministerial Cabinet and, among others, representatives of partner countries of Haiti.

This is a first in the country's history. Bel-Air, Fort National, Cité Soleil and Carrefour Feuilles will be the first beneficiaries of this social welfare program designed by the government for families with young children in school and living in extreme poverty.

"This is a revolution in the country... This program is funded from the PetroCaribe funds; 13 million U.S. dollars for the first year," declared Laurent Lamothe, claiming that it is "a historic success for the Haitian families, who have never benefited from such support". According to him, the launch of "Ti Manman Cheri" is a clear signal towards the improvement of living conditions of families living in extreme poverty.

This important program, consists in transferring money every month, on the cellphone of every mother, through the service "Tchocho mobile" of  Digicel, provided that their child is enrolled in a school, and goes there regularly. Mothers with one, two or three children in school, receive respectively 400, 600 or 800 gourdes per month. [Similar programs of conditional cash transfers have been implemented successfully in Brazil, Mexico and the Dominican Republic].

These families will be registered for a period of 6 months, with the possibility of being renewed 10 times (5 years) maximum. Registrations are open in May, and will end in December with the aim of reaching 100,000 beneficiaries. "The program will run throughout the country in the future," announced the Prime Minister, who said  that "we have 200 registrations for the month of May; 200 mothers who will be registered into the program Ti Manman Cheri. In June we will register 2,800, 5,000 in July,  10,000 in August. Then we will pick up speed in September for 25,000 more people, 25,000 in October,  20,000 in November; so that in December we have completed the 100,000 mothers who will be in this program. These  100,000 mothers, will have a positive impact on more than 500,000 people in Haiti..."

Mr. Chrisnor Saint-Fleur, Director of the Institution Mixte Union des Apôtres of Cité Soleil, the first beneficiary school, expressed his satisfaction, and took the opportunity to express his appreciation to the Martelly-Lamothe Administration for this social protection program.

"I applaud this initiative, and congratulate President Martelly for thinking of us", welcomed Ms. Gina Abraham, a beneficiary of 33 years of age,  living in Cité Soleil, and mother of four children. Dozens of mothers and their children attended the ceremony.

The Prime Minister reiterated the determination of the President of the Republic, in the fight against poverty, and urged parents to keep their children in school, promising to work to bring concrete results for the Haitian people.

In addition to the fight against poverty, "the desire of President Martelly is to see that all the children of Haiti go to school and to literate the adults before the end of his mandate," declared Sophia Martelly; recalling some of the accomplishments of the Head of State in the previous year, (ie more than 1 million children have access to free education, the relocation of thousands of displaced persons of 12 January 2010, who occupied several public places of the capital, and the rehabilitation of the Gymnasium Vincent...

The launch of "Ti Manman Cheri", like the programs "Aba grangou", "Banm Limyè, banm lavi", "Katye pa m poze", and "Kay pa m" introduced previously, and soon the pink card of health insurance, demonstrates the willingness and determination of the President of the Republic to work to improve the living conditions of the Haitian people. "Your President, 'Tèt Kale'  is counting on you as you rely on him too," declared the First Lady.