Access and utilisation of the senior citizen grant among the elderly in Buliisa district

Abstract

I conducted a study on the Access and Utilization of the Senior Citizen Grant (SCG) among the elderly in Buliisa district, Uganda. The study was carried out in Buliisa subcounty and Biiso subcounty in Buliisa district. The study was guided by the specific objectives, and the specific objectives of this study were to examine the perceptions of the elderly in accessing of SCG in Buliisa District, to find out how the elderly in Buliisa district utilize the SCG and to establish the welfare effects of the SCG among beneficiaries in Buliisa District. A cross sectional survey design was employed in the study with both quantitative and qualitative approaches which were used to generate the required information from the study participants. The findings showed that the elders knew about the grant and defined it as; money for people aged 80 and above, a grant for the elderly and free money given to the elderly by government. The elderly were all able to access the Senior Citizens Grant as long as one was 80 years old and above. The grant covered the whole district, all villages, sub counties and all parishes in the district. The grant was distributed at parish level where it was availed at pay points in every parish in the district and only a national ID was required from an old person to receive the money. However, due to old age, elderly accessibility to the grant was majorly hindered by transportation to the pay points. Most of them used motorcycles for transport to ease accessibility while a few walked to the pay points. Those that used motorcycles for transportation to the pay point spent 29% of the grant on transportation leaving them with little money which got finished before the next quarter’s distribution. The findings also revealed that the elderly utilized their money effectively and the study showed that women utilized their money better than men in terms of productivity. Majority of the elders used their money to meet basic needs, paid school fees, investments, health bills and other facilitations they required. A few of the elderly had some safety concerns, this implied that the security of the elderly persons should be prioritized both in the community and at home since their lives were in danger after they received the money. The study also found that 85% of the elders’ lives had changed positively and of the 100 who participated in the study, 27 had started income generating activities from the grant and this implied that the SCG improved the lives of the elderly people in Buliisa and Biiso sub counties in Buliisa district. In conclusion, the participants suggested that the government should increase the money, others said it should start up projects and saving groups for the elderly so that the SCG is more beneficial to them.