Cambodia government registers virus-hit poor

PHNOM PEHN, April 29 (The Phnom Pehn Post/ANN) - The Ministry of Planning has directed its departments throughout the Kingdom to register a comprehensive identification data of poor households, who will receive assistance from the government during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The departments have been told to collect the data in rural areas by the end of May and urban areas before the end of June.

In an emergency video conference with planning department officials on Monday, its minister Chhay Than said the government needed to identify the most vulnerable throughout the Kingdom. He said specialised training will be provided.

“At the discretion of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, we will shortly conduct training courses for all provincial and municipal planning departments to identify the poor during the Covid-19 pandemic, ” he said.

He said the planning ministry has laid out a mechanism for officials to identify the poor based on each household’s request and consultation with the local authorities. Excluding households that have become better off also needs to go through the procedures.

The aim, he said, is to help improve the livelihoods of the most vulnerable and reduce the impacts caused by Covid-19.

Than said the government had provided cash to poor families who already have the so-called equity cards and some other families who were absent when the identification process began.

Other families who have lost their income due to Covid-19 will also receive financial assistance.