By Kemo Cham
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.
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“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
