Communities in Lilongwe district are full of praises of the Governance to Enable Service Delivery (GESD) project, for enhancing their access and delivery of social services.
Through MK577, 758, 028.00 GESD funds received during the 2021-2021 financial year, the district has implemented a total of 16 various projects in the health, education, transport, commerce and security sectors.
Senior Group Village Head Chalendewa under Traditional Authority Kalumba, is full of praises of an OPD clinic that has been built in her area using GESD funds in the 2021-2022 financial year.
“We used to have challenges in accessing health services as the nearest hospitals which are Mitundu and Chadza health centres as well as Bwaila Hospital, are very far demanding people to spend a lot of money on transport,” she said.
Sibongire Kadzuwa, a Medical Assistant at Matapira Health Centre in Traditional Authority Mazengera, says GESD is an answered prayer to communities around the area through which they have benefited with an additional staff house.
According to Kadzuwa, medical personnel at the health facility commute from distant places like Kamphata and others from the city, because of lack of staff houses and decent accommodation around the area.
“This staff house would ensure that a good number of us are residing just within the vicinity of the health facility which will contribute to effective health service delivery to people around here,” he said.
To achieve these and many other projects under GESD, councils need to meet the requirements of the Local Authorities Performance Assessment (LAPA) that necessitates provision of the funds.
Lilongwe district commissioner, Dr. Lawford Palali, said the council would not have been able to register meaningful developments if not for the Performance Based Grants (PBG), which falls under the GESD project.
GESD is a five year $90 million (about MK90 billion) project, which the World Bank supports in order to strengthen institutional capacity and performance of district councils.
According to the DC, through the PGB, councils have been kept in check as they have to ensure they meet all the necessary requirements that necessitates them to be given the funds.
“For a council to qualify for the PBG, there is a need to meet the requirements of the Local Authorities Performance Assessment (LAPA), which is done to determine whether local authorities have the basic capacities or institutional safeguards to manage development grants as well as provide fiscal incentives to improve local authorities’ performance,” he said.
According to Palani, the LAPA also seeks to identify performance gaps and inform the development and implementation of performance improvement plans for local authorities.
He said meeting such requirements to receive the PBG, Lilongwe district council has been able to implement projects that have changed the face of the district as well as people’s livelihoods through enhanced access to social services like health, education as well infrastructure development.
“The council now has the financial muscle to implement its investment plans as outlined in the district development plan, a thing which was not possible in the past due to lack of enough funds,” said Palani.
This year, the district has received about MK 1 billion, through which a total of 18 projects will be implemented in the 2022-2023 financial year.
The project is facilitated by the Ministry of Local Government, Ministry of Finance and the National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC) as key lead partners.
Contributor: Nellie Kapatuka, District Information Officer, Lilongwe
