The World Bank Country Manager for Malawi office Hugh Riddell says accountability and discipline are important to translate success stories into meaningful transformation for participants under the Social Support for Resilient Livelihoods Project (SSRLP).

Riddell was speaking after a Social Protection Multi Donor Trust Fund High Level Heads of Cooperation visit to Chankhanga Micro Catchment in Kasungu District where the heads for USAID, UKAID, Ireland, European Union and the World Bank went to appreciate the SSRL project especially the Climate Smart Enhanced Public Works Programme and the Social Cash Transfer Programme components of the flagship social protection project.

Partners see, ‘increasing government ownership of the social protection sector because that means putting in your resources in and over the next few years this is increasingly going to be government led and financed programme because we can see the benefits and we want government to own the results and the good stories’, said Riddell.

Guest of Honour at the function, Minister of Gender, Social Welfare and Community Development Jean Sendeza, asked beneficiaries to prudently use resources in order to graduate from the social protection programmes so that others benefit too.

'In order to ensure that the programme continues to be transparent, may I also ask opinion leaders to ensure that verification of targeted beneficiaries after selection through the Unified Beneficiary Registry is done in a thorough, open and systematic way so that it is not only the ultra-poor and rightly targeted that are benefitting but they must be seen to be benefiting', she said.

Speaking in an interview with this platform, Georgina Linga, a Chankhanga Micro catchment area participant under the CS-EPWP component of the project, said she is happy to be able to contribute to the holistic catchment management activities and as well as receive wages to support her children.

‘Iam a single mother of four and at least I can afford a meal with my children from the wages I have begun receiving and I am considering joining the loans and savings group to grow my finances’, she said.

The participants under the CS – EPWP, SSRLP component are paid MK1,200 per day for 12days per month. They are together with non-participant members of the community also expected to contribute five days of voluntary works per month in the micro catchment.

The MDTF supported SSRLP is a 490 million dollar project up to 2027. It targets 520, 000 households under the Climate Smart Enhanced Public Works Programme, 405,000 under the Social cash transfer programme, and 590,000 under the Livelihoods Support component of the SSRLP.

The program is implemented by all local councils in the country, the Ministry of Gender Social Welfare and Community Development, the National Local Government Finance Committee and COMSIP Cooperative Union among other stakeholders.

District Commissioner (DC) for Chitipa McMillan Magomero has asked communities in the district to take the World Bank funded, Climate Smart Public Works Programme (CSPWP) seriously in order to preserve the environment.

Speaking during the disbursement of wages to participants on Wednesday, who have worked for a first period of 24 days, Magomero said that the programme will help to bring back the environment in the district, which was degraded due to unnecessary cutting down of trees, as well as cultivation along the river banks.

‘‘This programme is very important for communities in Chitipa because it will help control the runoff water, and to protect the environment in general, as, due to the mountainous topography of the district we have many farmers who cultivate down the hill, but they do not harvest bumper yields due to extensive run off of the water.’’

‘‘As such, I am urging communities to take the programme seriously in order for us to improve on crop production, said Magomero.

Through the programme, which is a sub-component of the Social Support for Resilient Livelihoods Project (SSRLP), and is being implemented by local councils with the support of the National Local Government Finance Committee, communities in Chitipa are creating assets such as reclaimed gullies, contour ridging, river bank protection as well as swale construction.

In recent years, communities in Chitipa have been experiencing effects of climate change such as flooding, a development which affects heavily communities living down the stream in Karonga.

In his remarks, Group Village Headman Chipwela commended the government for the initiative, saying that apart from restoring the environment, wages will help participants to improve their livelihood.

‘‘This programme is empowering us economically because wages that we are receiving will help us to buy food, as well as fertilizer for irrigation farming. As such I am advising my subordinates to use the money for intended purposes’’, said Chipwela.

According to the acting district liaison officer for Chitipa Jame Gubudu, the district has 14 catchment areas where the programme is implemented, and beneficiaries are working for a period of 12 days per month.

Climate Smart Public Works Programme, which is an acceleration of the pilot enhanced public works programme, is being implemented in all the districts, for a period of five years running from July 2020 to June 2025, and Its primary objective is to improve household resilience to shocks, to increase the pact on household-level incomes and food security, among others. 

The National Local Government Finance Committee together with the Accountant General's Department has conducted an Orientation for recently recruited, promoted and deployed Local Authority Accounts Officers to capacitate them with skills and knowledge in prudent financial management, fiscal decentralization, ethics, professionalism to ensure they are Officers of good standing and work efficiently and effectively in the management of public resources and enhanced service provision at Local level.

Speaking during one of the cluster sessions, Director of Local Government Services Mr Douglas Mkweta urged the Accounts personnel to work hard and professionally to regain public trust.

“It is time for you to stand up and get counted and restore public confidence in local government’s public finance management”

“Accountants play a key role in safeguarding Local Authorities’ finances, and it is important that you have the pre-requisite skills and perform your duties professionally to cultivate trust from the public”, said Mkweta

In his remarks, the Executive Director for NLGFC Dr Kondwani Santhe reminded the Accountants that they have a stewardship role and it is incumbent upon them to ensure that all stakeholders trust their work and that the public purse is protected at all times. 

“You are the change agents in public finance management in the councils, work and submit reports within stipulated deadlines”

“Your role is to ensure transactions are recorded in LA-IFMIS timely, bank reconciliations are done on time, produce accurate and comprehensive reports for ease of decision making and that you are working professionally and ethically and you are accountable through timely submission of financial reports as this will enhance transparency, generate confidence, and increase public trust”, said Santhe.

A total of 85 Accounts Officers from all councils were targeted. 

The orientation covered the Accountants’ code of Ethics, Local Authority Chart of Accounts, Human Resource Management in Local, Authorities, promotions, training and disciplinary procedures, Financial Reporting in Local Authorities, Migration from Cash basis Accounting to Accrual Accounting and the reporting requirements under Accrual Financial reporting. Also, awareness of the Public Finance Management Act 2022 and Penalties for noncompliance to the Act, Step by step process of preparing Local Authorities Financial Statements and Project Funds management and auditing among others.

Facilitators included officers from the NLGFC, Accountant General's Department, National Auditor Office, Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, Ministry of Local Government Unity and Culture and Local Government Service Commission.  

Participants in the Climate Smart-Enhanced Public Works Programme (CS-EPWP) in the Neno district have started receiving their wages having worked on the project for two cycles.

Speaking after receiving the wages, one of the participants Bubile Banda from Chiwale Catchment areas, said the program has empowered him economically.

He said the money will enable him to buy food and other household necessities.

“This money will help me to buy food as I don’t have food now,” said Kaunda.

Another participant, Ellen Divason said she is happy with the money she has received and will use it to pay school fees for her child.

“My child was supposed to be at a boarding school but due to lack of fees, she was at a day school. 

Each Participant is receiving 28,000 having worked for 24 days and working 12 days a month in the months of January and February.

11,635 participants in the district are taking part in the 14 micro-catchment areas.

The CS-EPWP program is a component of the Social Support for Resilient Livelihoods Project (SSRLP), a Malawi government project implemented by local councils with support from the National Local Government Finance Committee. The SSRLP is funded by the World Bank.

The programme rolled out in January this year in all 28 district councils.

All councils are required to come up with budget estimates every year. The Budget Division of the National Local Government Finance Committee Coordinates council budget formulation for councils. Every financial year is unique. However, there are some common elements of the council budget formulation process in each budgeting cycle. In this discourse, Jonathan Banda describes the council budget formulation process in order to enable stakeholders to obtain a concrete perspective of council budgeting.

According to the Local Government, Act 1998/2010 councils are expected to complete the preparation of the budget estimates three (3) months before the commencement of the new financial year. In this case by 31^st December. By that date, all the government agencies are assumed to have been briefed on budget preparation guidelines for the forthcoming financial year. Councils are briefed on budgeting guidelines as some customisations are made to the budgeting templates to reflect councils’ processes. All council briefing sessions are therefore conducted by NLGFC in the month of January.   All councils are represented during these regional meetings which are aimed at communicating the budgeting templates and budgeting guidelines underlying budget formulation processes. 

The budget briefings set the benchmark in terms of expectations on how the councils are expected to complete all the templates as well as communicate the relevant policy directions as per the national development agenda in terms of medium to long term. This is to say in the current medium term, all councils and government agencies are expected to conform their budget to the Malawi Investment Plan I en route the long-term vision of Malawi 2063.

Similarly, the development resources for projects like Governance to Enable Service Delivery (GESD) PBG, Climate Smart Public Works Program and Social Cash Transfer Program, there are also specific guidelines which were developed in line with the financing agreement and relevant Project implementation manuals. As such, these are emphasized in order to ensure that the budgeting covers all the relevant information and to enhance the efficiency in the utilization of the resources.

NLGFC provides indicative budget ceilings to councils to commence the budgeting process. But in the absence of the indicative ceiling’s council can still commence the budgeting process using the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework Ceilings which are provided every year. Using the information provided to the council personnel representatives during the budget briefing, the councils proceed to prepare the budgets ensuring they have completed all the relevant templates provided. Constant contact is maintained between NLGFC and councils through the process as the councils get clarification on various issues as they continue preparing the budgets. This budget formulation process takes place over a certain timeline during which time council personnel undertake consultation with elected members and grassroots structures of Village Development Committees (VDCs) and Area Development Committees (ADCs).

Upon completion of the templates, the council are invited to technical Budget Review meetings where NLGFC representatives scrutinize their budgets. This process attempts to put the budgets on a litmus test to the templates and guidelines that were provided during the budget briefing sessions. As such the budgeting guidelines and templates become the basis for evaluating a council’s budget submission. During these review meetings, council are advised on various areas of the templates where corrections need to be made before they make a final submission for NLGFC to embark on the consolidation process. A submission deadline is agreed upon with councils to submit their relevant templates. Normally, the technical budget review process occurs before the communication of final budgeting ceilings y NLGFC. The councils’ final budget submission by the council to NLGFC is therefore expected to be responsive to the final ceilings which are communicated.

Before the final submission is made to NLGFC, councils are required to subject the budget to governance structures at the council, namely, Finance Committee, and the full council which is expected to approve their budget. The budget for the council comprises several documents which stakeholders need to understand. These include Program Based Budget, input sheets for both Personnel Emoluments and Other Recurrent Transactions (ORT), Cash Flows and Citizens Budget.

At this stage, the NLGFC consolidates all the budgets that councils have submitted in order to relay the same to Parliament for their noting. The main documents NLGFC consolidates are Program Based Budgets, Detailed Budget Estimates (generated from input sheets) and Cash flows. While the Detailed Budget estimates and Program Based Budget, Documents are for sharing with parliament and other stakeholders, the consolidated cash flows are for planning the financing of the various budget components to facilitate budget implementation in the forthcoming financial year.

Consolidated budget documents are eventually printed and made available to stakeholders, mostly councils. Also, important to note is the fact that councils also make cash flows which are summaries of the resources or funds they expect to get every month from the central government transfers for all the devolved sectors including development components of the budget. These resources are funded to councils from the first month of the financial year i.e., April through March of the following year. Similarly, the council also prepares their own cash flow with regard to locally generated revenue which defines how the council will implement their activities pertaining to locally generated revenue.

With all these processes completed all councils become ready to implement the budget for the forthcoming financial year. They are expected to only spend the funds which have been budgeted and approved. Councils that collect more revenue than estimated, are expected to submit to NLGFC a supplementary budget detailing how they intend to use the extra resources. Virements are allowed at relevant intervals as the councils implement the budget in order to allow councils to move resources from some budget lines where expenditure is slow to those where expenditure is faster but within a sector or budget line and not across sectors or budget lines. It is also possible for a council to spend less than what was approved in the course of the financial year due to resources that have been mobilized by the Ministry of Finance.

Staff Members and learners at Namaka Community Day Secondary School in Chiradzulu West are all smiles with the newly built MK21 Million administration block built by Chiradzulu District Council under the Governance to Enable Service Delivery (GESD) Project.

The new administration block carters for 19 teachers and 192 learners who were facing problems with the old small and dilapidated school block which was also used as a library.

Head Teacher for Namaka CDSS, Angela Mponda said the new administration block has relieved the school in terms of keeping school documents safe and has created room staff offices.

“With the old building, it was in a such bad state that keeping documents there was a gamble as it could easily be broken into by thieves and even unruly students. To make matters worse during the rainy season, it was leaking which destroyed a lot of documents like books and examination papers,” she explained.

She added that now with the new administration Block, the school is able to store documents properly and safely and the school is now a center for MANEB examinations because there is a good and secure space for keeping examination papers.

According to Mponda before the new administration block, the school was a rejected stone as teachers would return with posting letters when they saw the old administration block.

“Teachers would go back with their posting letters the moment they saw this old administration block, but now teachers are actually fighting to come here because the office is magnificent, spacious and very modern. We are truly thankful because this development was very crucial,” she explained

Chairman for Village District Committee for Namaka, Mikael Mankhamba said after seeing how much the school was suffering in terms of teachers offices and storage space, they told they council that they would prefer the administration Block.

Mankhamba said the school being at the centre; it was only realistic that it has modern offices and classrooms blocks.

Member of Parliament for the area, Matthews Ngwale, expressed happiness over the decision to have a new administration block at the school which he said was long overdue.

“When we met with the committees, I told them to choose something that wilI have a great impact in the community, i am very happy that what the people in the area wanted and has been fulfilled, this is truly a great development,” he said

Maintenance and Works Supervisor for Chiradzulu District Council, Dieuifait Chikuse said the committee members at Namaka were very organized and mobilized themselves well which made the project easier to implement.

He said such projects delay when there is resistance from the communities and lack of proper coordination between the councils, contractors and the communities.

GESD is a Government of Malawi Project that is being implemented by the National Local Government Finance Committee through Local Councils with funding from the World Bank.

Minister of Local government, unity, and culture Richard Chimwendo Banda has called upon councils to prioritize flagship projects, saying these can have a quicker social and economic impact on people.

He made the remarks Tuesday in Dowa during an engagement meeting with councillors and council secretariats, aimed at strengthening their capacity on identifying and implementing flagship and full package projects under the development budget, like Governance to Enable Service Delivery (GESD) project.

Banda said some councils are concentrating on a few big projects with a quicker social-economic impact, while others allocate resources to many small projects based on either constituencies or wards, but with little social-economic impact.

“The plea we are making to councils and members of parliament is that we utilize the resources we are getting under GESD to implement flagship projects, rather than spreading them thinly whereby at the end of the day, we do not see major impacts.

“We have convinced councilors that this does not stop them from getting some projects in their wards and constituencies because Constituency Development Fund (CDF) will always be there for that. But GESD and District Development Fund (DDF) should be concentrated on flagship projects,” said the Minister.

In his remarks, Charles Chunga, project coordinator for the GESD project, which is being implemented under the National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC), said GESD has so far managed to address some challenges councils have been facing, ranging from infrastructure development to capacity building.

“We have been implementing this project for almost three years. But from our assessment, we have noted that some councils are implementing very small projects that do not have an impact to the citizens.

“So the proposal is they should come up with flagship projects complete with all necessary supporting facilities because we have noted that some projects have been completed but are not functional due to lack of essential facilities for them to be operational,” he said.

Reported by Sylvester Kumwenda, District Information Officer, Dowa

The National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC) has introduced a Project Management Information System (PMIS) for Local Authorities (LAs), an innovation that will improve LAs’ project management drive.

The PMIS will help manage projects funded by Governance to Enable Service Delivery (GESD) and District Development Fund (DDF). The tool has been developed to replace the existing Excel monitoring tool and is able to track physical progress of projects from start to completion.

Speaking during the PMIS training of Directors of Public Works, Management Information System Officers and District Liaison Officers in Mzuzu, the GESD Project Coordinator, Mr Charles Chunga said the system is beneficial in that it automates reports and can easily be accessed by councils and NLGFC.

Chunga also said the PMIS provides real-time access to data; as Councils enter data and the dpw approves it, becoming visible to NLGFC.

It can also generate consolidated Excel reports. Stakeholders can also view projects on a dashboard which you can filter by financial year, funding source, project type, sector etc, and instant access to project progress on theground.

‘May l therefore urge all councils to embrace the PMIS in the implementation of GESD and DDF projects’, Chunga said.

‘The PMIS utilization for reporting by LAs will also be used as a trigger in the Local Authorities Performance Assessment (LAPA) for the 2022/23 fiscal year’, said Chunga. 

In addition, Chunga also said that councils not using PMIS will not get the 40% Performance Based Grant funds remaining for the 2022/23 Financial Year.

In its design, the PMIS has a public portal which provides access to information on all projects funded by the District Development Fund and the Governance to Enable Service Delivery project.