Transparent distribution of US$62m cash in 30 days

A cash payment to support families with rising living costs

Timor-Leste

Social Protection
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Purpose

Transparently and accurately distribute a cash payment to all households across Timor-Leste to help with the rising cost of living.

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Approach

Partner with government and support the administration of payments through the design, delivery, and management of a real-time cash transfer payment tracking system

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Partners

Timor-Leste Ministry of Social Solidarity and Inclusion

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Highlights

>312,000 households across all 452 sukus received a cash support payment within 30 days

In recent years, the Government of Timor-Leste has been investing in a series of new social protection programs aimed at reducing poverty and inequality.

Over the Christmas break of 2022, the Government of Timor-Leste, through the Ministry of Social Solidarity and Inclusion, administered a one-off end of year payment to all households in Timor-Leste.

This payment was intended to support people to manage the rising cost of living and aimed to bridge the gap between those who receive an additional payment at the end of the year, such as public servants, and those who do not, such as those working in the informal sector or who are unemployed.

The US$200 cash payment was delivered to over 312,000 Timor-Leste households across all 452 national sucos in the country in just one month. Payments totalled more than US$62m cash.

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Payment officers were trained to accurately capture data and record payments. Image credit: Timor-Leste Ministry of Social Solidarity and Inclusion

Working directly with the government, Catalpa provided technical support and enabled efficient, accountable, and inclusive delivery of funds in a country where the majority of citizens don’t have a bank account.

The payment tracking system involved:

  • The creation of a data collection app for payment registrations that was simple-to-use and works offline,
  • Set up of 482 tablet mobile devices for offline registration
  • The delivery of rapid training to 452 payment teams to ensure the accurate collection of required data and access to remote support when required
  • Preparation of dashboards to monitor the progress of payments in real-time, and
  • Support for monitoring and evaluation activities through easy-to-analyse data and reporting.

The system created efficiency and transparency around who and when people had received a payment. Real-time monitoring was publicly accessible via an online portal.

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Catalpa’s Social Payment Platform is designed to streamline all aspects of payment distribution programs - including data collection, application assessment and processing, efficient coordination of payment distribution.

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