The Government of Malawi has applied for Additional Financing (AF) from the International Development Association (IDA) to cover the financing gap as well as scale up coverage of core components of the Social Support for Resilient Livelihoods Project (SSRLP). The total budget for the additional financing is US$ 175 million.

In line with this application, the Government of Malawi has updated the Environmental and Social Safeguards instruments of the SSRLP for the additional financing. These includes; Labour Management Procedures (LMP), Draft Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF), and  Resettlement Policy Framework (RPF) for the expected  Additional Financing, The documents are available on NLGFC website via the link Publications (nlgfc.gov.mw)are hereby disclosed to the public.  

The Social Support for Resilient Livelihoods Project (SSRLP) is a US$142 million grant from the World Bank. The SSRLP runs 2020 to 2025. The project development objective is to improve resilience among the poor and vulnerable populations and strengthen the national platform for safety nets.

SSRLP was originally appraised with a pre-existing financing gap. The financing gap was identified in the Improving Social and Economic Inclusion component which focuses on the consolidation of an appropriate package of support for beneficiary households with a mix of program interventions including social cash transfers, livelihoods support, and climate smart/enhanced public works, as well as an option for scalable financing in time of crisis.

Troubled and challenged with raising and providing for their children’s well-being, female headed households have found solace in the government's social cash transfer program which is locally known as ‘Mtukula Pakhomo’.

Ellen Kayenda, a 36 year old mother of 3 who was dumped by her husband at a time her last born child was critically ill, is full of praises for the program saying it has transformed her life for the better.

“I received K18,000.00 during my very first month on the program of which K10,000 I used to buy a pig and the rest I used to buy some household and children’s needs”.

“The pig delivered 10 piglets. I sold the pig and 8 piglets and remained with two. I used the proceeds to start building a proper house for myself and the children. I also started a maize selling business apart from joining village savings and loans group,” said Kayenda.

To date, she is proud to say she owns a number of livestock’s including goats and chickens.

Through her business, she is now able to support her children, with one currently in secondary school.

50 year old Velentina Yona, single mother of 4, boasts how Social Cash Transfer has changed her life from doing piece jobs to becoming a successful tea room owner at Kalonga Trading Centre, Traditional Authority Kabudula in Lilongwe.

She says on a good day, she is able to make about K8, 000.00 which she uses to support her children, one which is physically challenged.

“I have been on this program for three years now and my life is not the same. I now have chickens, goats and also pigs at home apart from the tea room business that I am into.”

“I used to move around in people’s fields doing piece works but I stopped when I was enrolled on this program because now I am able to provide for myself and my children,” she said.

Aarnord Mndolo, Social Welfare Officer responsible for cash transfer in Lilongwe says there has been significant progress in improvement of people’s livelihoods in the district since the program’s inception in 2018.

He says, over 60 percent of the beneficiaries are now self-dependent and will possibly be able to graduate when their time is due.

“We always make an emphasis to the beneficiaries as they receive the cash that the money has to be used for the intended purposes which is to increase school enrolment of children from these families, improve their nutritional status and also empowering them into venturing into businesses for the betterment of their general livelihood,” said Mndolo.

The government of Malawi’s social cash transfer program is an unconditional transfer targeted to ultra-poor and labor constrained households.  

18 out 22 Traditional Authorities in Lilongwe are benefiting from the program which World Bank is supporting in the district through the National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC).

Story Credit: Nelly Kapatuka-District Information Officer, Lilongwe

Bisiyoni Mteteya’s productive life came to a screeching halt in 1998 when he lost his sight.

The 90-year-old man, who lives in Jordan Village, Traditional Authority (T/A) Lundu in Blantyre, says life became tough as he could not do piecework to support his four-member household.

With a broken heart, he says the situation ripped his home to debilitating poverty.

“I was the breadwinner,” recalls Mteteya. “But the foul play-related blindness immediately affected my abilities to provide basic needs for my family and educate children. We lost our possessions like goats and chickens because my mentally-challenged wife could not manage them.”

The father of two children says since then, they have lived in dire conditions.

The nonagenarian says his family experienced perennial hunger as he could not do any farming activity.

He says: “I was the only one producing our food. Even if people helped us to grow maize, we failed to harvest enough on the barren field due to lack of money to buy fertilisers, among other challenges.”

Over the years, they have been surviving on alms from well-wishers in the neighbourhood.

“Most days we could stay on an empty stomach or just a meal a day, depending on availability of well-wishers,” he recounts.

However, from 2018, the household’s living conditions begun to improve. Not only do the Mteteyas eat three meals a day, they consume well-balanced diets.

The family also achieves food security as it affords to buy fertilisers and hire farm labourers.

The Mteteyas no longer wallow in extreme poverty.

The old man credits the strides made to a government-led Social Cash Transfer Programme (SCTP) under Social Support for Resilient Livelihoods Project (SSRLP) being implemented through the National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC).

Bankrolled by the World Bank, the programme provides monthly cash grants to 7 897 ultra-poor and labour-contrained households to eliminate debilitating poverty in the district.

As one of the poor, Mteteya was enrolled in the programme in 2018. He was receiving K7 200 until December 2021. He now gets K10 000 monthly.

“The amount may be seen as small change, but it has contributed to our improved living conditions. We no longer starve. I saved some from the grants and ventured into livestock and poultry production (seven goats and chickens). We are escaping poverty,” he says.

Blantyre District Council social cash transfer coordinator Dumisani Maona is pleased that the intervention is reducing poverty.

“It is exciting to note that beneficiaries are becoming food secure and acquiring assets. The intervention is on right track, helping beneficiaries to have improved nutrition, health, school enrolment and shelter in the district,” he says.

Mteteya asks government to increase the payment to fast-track his dream of living in an improved modern shelter.

Contributor: Temwa Mhone

Director of Local Government Services in the Ministry of Local government, Richard Hara has challenged the media in the country to engage an extra gear in reporting issues of local governance.

Hara made the call on Wednesday in Salima when he opened an orientation for journalists on Governance to Enable Service Delivery (GESD) guidelines organised by the National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC).

He said it is not pleasing to see that journalists concentrate on reporting on other issues leaving behind issues of governance unreported despite having many success stories on the ground.

“There is a whole series of success stories and progress that never makes it into mainstream media. This is sad and I hope with this orientation media shall become our ambassadors to the nation,” said Hara.

He added: “Indeed, if one browses much of media content in this country one may find limited positive coverage of local government content. I am hopeful we are turning the page with this orientation.”

The Director pointed out that much as the ministry values the relationship they have with the media and the critical role it plays in communicating vital messages to the people in the local governments, there is still more that the media can do in enlightening communities on issues of local governance through dissemination of the right information to them.

“You may wish to know, that media due to absence of such interfaces, has at times not performed their duties objectively leading to misinformation or poor quality messaging or even lack thereof, particularly on media coverage pertaining to fiscal decentralisation and financial management issues. Our hope is that the orientation will address these issues,” he said.

Commenting on the development, Acting Executive Director of NLGFC Dr Kondwani Santhe said the committee looks at the media as a resource for information dissemination to the rural masses.

“We need communities out there to know what GESD is all about and probably take part in ensuring that there is smooth implementation of such projects in their areas.”

One participant Themba Mwale of Voice of Livingstonia radio who is also executive member of MISA Malawi said through the expertise gained through the workshop, he will be able to follow up with respective councils on the adherence to the indicators and triggers that eventually enable councils to secure GESD funds.

He said: “As watchdogs of the society, we will now be able to engage councils from a point of knowledge, to ensure the fulfilment of the minimum access conditions and triggers. These include ensuring that they have audited accounts, the required personnel and other requirements.”

Mwale added that the orientation has given the media a useful resource that will now help them provide checks and balances to development projects under GESD as well as District Development Fund (DDF).

During the orientation, a media network on governance to enable service delivery reporting was formed with Patrick Botha of Malawi News Agency elected President and Eunice Ndhlovu of MBC Secretary General.

Reported by Grace Kapatuka

Board chair of the National Local Government Finance Committee Commissioner Richard Chapweteka has urged Blantyre District Council to ensure that service to its residents is raised to the expectation of its people.

Chapweteka said this during a consultative meeting between the board and the district council in Blantyre. He said time had come for all players on the ground to move towards the same direction so that residents of the council also benefit from developmental projects funded by the Governance to Enable Service Delivery (GESD) as is happening to other councils.

Chapweteka then warned the council to desist from reference to theories on their failure to access the first phase disbursement of the GESD resources.

The Board chair said all councils are assessed using similar tools in terms of financial compliance and performance urging it to focus on its efforts to do well as there was no room to change or provide different opinions than those on the ground.

In her remarks, the chairperson for Blantyre District Council, Councilor Sigere Pemba bemoaned issues which had led to her council’s failure to access the GESD resources.

‘I hope that this meeting will help us get positioned and ready to effectively work for the expectation of our people. We hope too that though we failed to qualify for the LAPA results can be remedied’.

The consultative meeting targets four councils namely Thyolo DC, Blantyre DC, Mchinji DC and Nkhotakota DC which failed to meet the minimum access conditions to trigger qualification to access the added funds for the district development plans through the GESD project.

Kasungu, January 10: Burdened by different responsibilities among them taking care of grandchildren, the elderly in Kasungu have found solace in governments social protection programme, Social Cash Transfer (SCT) popularly known as Mtukula Pakhomo.

Ekisilida Mwase, 74, of Lodjwa in Sub Traditional Authority Chisikwa in Kasungu is taking care of a family of eight together with her old aged husband, despite some problems they have managed to get through with SCT.

"Four years ago I used to struggle to find means of sending my six grandchildren to school of which two are in secondary school and finding food to eat was also a problem because we could not find enough fertilizer,

After being introduced to the social cash transfer programme four years ago things have changed as I am able to send the children to school, we have enough food and above all we also have goats that we are keeping thanks to the programme," said Mwase.

Grain House Cluster SCT Committee Secretary Christopher Banda said the programme has supported most elderly headed families who now are able to buy fertilizers, renovate their shelter and most of all send children to school.

Social Welfare Officer at Kasungu District Council Raphael Chitete said the programme has supported elderly headed families among others like chronically ill, disability and child headed families.

Story Credits: Vincent Khonje, District Information Officer, Kasungu

7th January, 2022

Media Advisory:

Funding Advise to all Local Councils – December, 2021

An approved budget of MK44.3 billion is expected to be disbursed over the nine months period up to March 2022 (excluding City Roads Rehabilitation resources). Councils have been funded a total of MK6.4 billion for the month of December 2021.  Notable funding lines for the month include:

Cumulatively, MK34.4 billion has been funded up to December, 2021 representing 78% of the annual provision excluding Rehabilitation of City Roads. Development budget lines of District Development Fund (DDF), Boreholes Fund and Infrastructure Development Fund (IDF) have not been funded and remain at 67%. Other budget lines like Health, Education, Agriculture, General Resource Fund, Education Covid response and health Covid response and Constituency Development Fund have cumulatively been funded 67%, 88%, 73%, 69%, 82%, 68% and 100%; respectively.

(Signed)

Kondwani Santhe, PhD.

Acting Executive Director

 Funding advice to LAs as of 31st December, 2021

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) says institutions which are proactive in provision of services in the public sector are a giant step in the fight against corruption in Malawi.

The remarks were made by Ezilon Kasoka the ACB’s Senior Corruption Prevention Officer and its Prevention Officer Lydia Kawiya Phiri during a weeklong orientation of the National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC) Internal Integrity Committee (IIC) recently at Kabumba Hotel in Salima.

‘Cases of corruption are painful to this country. However, we should not give up. The IIC at the NLGFC has its role to play and it must do so well to lead by example in the expected delivery of its mandate, by having a strong performance driven upright institution’.

Speaking during the function, Director of Infrastructure and Economic Development, Paul Chipeta, appealed to the delegates to utilize the orientation for the benefit of the NLGFC as an institution and the councils at large saying the session had come at the right moment in the fight against corruption at the NLGFC.

‘The weight of responsibility on your shoulders is so much. The weight of expectation is huge. That is why management has committed to this initiative the resources it needs and the management has physically demonstrated that through physical attendance’, said Chipeta.

The IIC core mandates includes development of corruption prevention policies and procedures; inculcate ethics in members of staff through codes of conduct and training; lead in the review of systems and procedures; and receive suspected corruption reports, conduct preliminary investigations and recommends appropriate action to management or refer to appropriate external agencies.

The orientation covered corruption prevention initiatives at the NLGFC, tools in the fight against corruption in Malawi, whistle blowing and corruption reporting and investigation, ethics and integrity, among others.

Construction works for the 351 million Kwacha New Nkhata Bay market has finally come to completion. Contractor for the project China Engineering Corporation Limited Contractors handed over the market to the district council end August.

Speaking in an interview, district commissioner Rodney Simwaka said the project is key in spurring small scale businesses while boosting local revenue at the same time.

“The other market was overwhelmed in terms of space. Traders and customers need a comfortable environment to operate in, hence the request to KFW for additional funding to make this market extension. This market demonstrates seriousness that government has towards infrastructural and economic development,” Said Simwaka

Ward councilor for Nkhata Bay Boma ward who is also the former chairperson for the council infrastructures, Cyria Adamana Nyamwera said he was glad the project had come to

completion.

“It was an eye sore to see other vendors trading by the jetty gate or the bus depot just because of lack of market space. As you know Nkhata Bay is a major tourist destination, it has to be clean at all times,” he said.

On his part, Boma Market Committee Chairperson Foster Jungu Mhone described the development as good news.

“You see when the project was starting most of us thought it was going to stall not ending,’ he said. Mhone said the constrained space as compared to the number of people plying or wanting to ply their trade in the market the challenged the council forcing other vendors to display their wares in the bus depot and along pavements.

“But with the market project now completed, and technically handed over to business and revenue too”.

Mhone also hoped the council would speed up on effecting the e-ticketing system so that the outcry about the market not producing enough revenue should be a song of the past.

According to the director of planning and development for the district Isaac Mkandawire, the market was constructed under the More Income and Employment in Rural Areas (MIERA) with funding from KfW bank with an objective of increasing market access for SMSEs.

“In addition, the project aims at improving revenue for the Council,” he said.

The project which commenced in June 2020, was expected to be completed by March 2021 but delayed due to Covid-19, will accommodate 5,000 vendors including fresh food, second hand cloth vendors and restaurants.

The ultramodern market boasts of treatment facilities for solid waste which includes recycling for fertilizer production.