Toleza and Mtumbwe micro-catchments in Balaka district council have been commended for exceptional milestones in safeguards under the Enhanced Public Works Programme (EPWP).

 The remarks were made by a group of learning teams from Chitipa, Karonga, Nkhotakota, and Kasungu during an inter-district learning exchange visit on environmental and social safeguards exercise organized by the Environmental and Social Safeguards Unit at the NLGFC.

 The Environmental and Social Safeguards Specialist at the NLGFC, Ephron Gausi said the exercise was planned in such a way as to enhance lesson learning from the host district (Balaka) on implementation of Safeguards under the EPWP through peer and experiential learning.

 At Toleza and Mtumbwi the visiting participants appreciated progress on the micro-catchment sub-projects. The Catchment Management Committees elucidated on what they had identified as potential environmental and social risks from the project activities and proposed mitigation measures.

 “For us, we saw that in some project activities such as tree nursery establishments, people would be spending long periods to do their work. We realized that there was a need for toilets for beneficiaries convenience without contributing to open defecation. We built it using locally available materials”, said Thereza Banda, a Catchment Management committee member at Toleza.

 They also further explained that they decided to do beneficiary sensitisations on HIV and AIDS prevention with support from the council which provided condoms to focal people for ease of access by anyone.

 Speaking in the Mtumbwe micro catchment, the village head said the pilot project was essential to the area’s soil and water conservation efforts.

 ‘Soil and water resource conservation interventions on farmland are like poultry vaccine. You cannot administer to some poultry and leave out others and then expect the disease to be eliminated from your village. You cannot apply marker ridges to some fields and leave out others in the same locality and expect improved soil productivity in your area. It cannot work,” said GVH Mtumbwe.

 Participants expressed gratitude for the learning visit stating that they had gained valuable lessons and were geared to implement them once they get back to their councils.

 The Deputy Director of Environmental Affairs, Michael Makonombera thanked the NLGFC for the initiative and encouraged the District Councils to adopt and apply a safeguards culture across all development projects that are taking place within their councils including government-funded ones which should set the pace and standard.