Bringing Happiness at the Doorsteps

Ram Gopal Shrestha greets strangers with a big smile and curious eyes, sitting with his father on the front porch of their house. 

Now in his 30s, Ram has been paralyzed from the waist down since he was four days old, says his father Tek Narayan Shrestha.  

Although Ram cannot walk or talk, he is very sociable, responding enthusiastically to conversations around him. One of the things that makes him happy is the arrival of bank and municipal staff in their village every three months, his father shares. 

Every three months a staff from the bank down at Namobuddha Bazaar, along with municipal staff travel to some of the wards in Namobuddha to distribute social security allowance to people who aren't able to travel to the bank, because of old age, disability or illness.  

The staff at Namobuddha Municipality put a clause in their contracts with the bank, that there would be coordination between the two agencies to distribute the cash at the doorstep, for people like Ram.  

"When we circulate the notice about the Social Security Allowance being credited to the beneficiaries' accounts, the following three days the bank gets crowded with people coming to withdraw the money,” says Ujjwal Shrestha, an official at a commercial bank in Namobuddha bazar. 

However, when it comes to reaching out to beneficiaries like Ram, Ujjwal is more than happy to walk to their homes to handover the money.  

Ujjwal says delivering social security allowance to the doorsteps of the vulnerable people like Ram is one of the most satisfying aspects of his work. "The smile on the face of people when they see us approaching them from a distance, and when they receive their allowance, is priceless," he says. 

"The smile on the face of people when they see us approaching them from a distance, and when they receive their allowance, is priceless," says Ujjwal Shrestha, an official at a commercial bank in Namobuddha bazar. 

When the officials reach Ram’s house, he insists the money be put in his own hand, not anyone else's. Ram spends the money mostly on food and clothes, while also saving some for rainy days in future. 

"There is great dignity to be able to have some money of one’s own, and buy things on your own at the shop," Ram’s father says. 

In Nepal, over 3.5 million people receive Social Security Allowance (SSA). All SSA beneficiaries— the elderly, single women (mainly widows), persons with disability, children, and those belonging to endangered ethnicities — now receive allowances directly into their bank accounts. The transfer of the SSA into bank accounts has reduced issues of duplication, potential leakage of funds due to ghost beneficiaries, and delayed payments. Alongside the improved delivery of SSA, delivery of civil registration has also been modernized. Similarly, over 97 percent of wards (local government units) have shifted to online registration of vital events such as births, deaths, marriages, and migration.

The digitization of the cash transfers and civil registration, which has brought significant improvement in the service delivery at local levels in Nepal was supported by the World Bank-financed Strengthening Systems for Social Protection and Civil Registration Project (SSSPCR).