Uganda will pay a $10 monthly allowance to the country's "chronically poor" who live on less than a dollar a day, officials said Thursday.

The $7.7 million program is being funded by Britain's Department for International Development and aid agencies including HelpAge International. An additional $6 will be given to families who support the elderly, disabled or orphans.

"We want to ensure that these vulnerable groups are developing at the same level as all other citizens of Uganda," Minister for Elderly and Disabled People Sulaiman Madada told The Associated Press. "The allowance will put them on the first step of the ladder and allow them to move themselves forward."

The three-year pilot program will start in 2008 and affect 9,000 households identified by community workers and the Uganda Bureau of Statistics.

Madada said the scheme is based on similar programs in countries such as Brazil, South Africa, Zambia and Mozambique.

More than 25 percent of Uganda's 30 million people are chronically poor, according to the government. The United Nations puts the figure at 39 percent.

"This scheme will make a real difference," said Irene Agenorwot, a cleaner living in Uganda's capital, Kampala. "If you can get these basic things then you can stand on your own. Many children are looked after by their grandparents because their parents have died of AIDS so this will really benefit them."

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