To enhance the socio-economic resilience of the coconut vendors within the La Nkwantanang Madina Municipality, the European Union-funded Coconut Waste Project commenced the sensitization and enrolment of project beneficiaries onto the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). This ties in with the project objective of establishing linkages between project beneficiaries and social protection agencies.
The baseline survey conducted by the project team in the target area in March 2021 indicated that access to social protection for coconut vendors was low within the project district. This informed the need to facilitate the enrolment of project beneficiaries onto the NHIS.
Following the sensitization exercise, the NHIA officials carried out instant registration of 68 coconut vendors onto the scheme and renewal of expired membership cards. Additionally, passersby within the community found the activity to be very beneficial and thus, took the opportunity to get enrolled.
The enrolment of coconut vendors within the La-Nkwantanang Madina Municipality onto social protection services (NHIS, credit, insurance, and pension) is expected to span throughout the 4-year duration of the Coconut Waste Project.