The National Local Government Finance Committee through the More Income and Employment in Rural Areas (MIERA) project is constructing new markets  aimed at transforming people’s living standards  by provision of services such as modern markets.

The objective of MIERA project is to contribute to increasing employment and income in rural areas of Malawi along selected value chains, especially for poorer sections of the population.

To achieve this, the project is constructing new markets at Chinkhoma in Kasungu, Dyeratu in Chikwawa, Embangweni in Mzimba and Goliyati in Thyolo.

The project is also extending construction of markets where KFW had constructed under its urban window project in Sadzi in Zomba, Lunzu in Blantyre, Neno and Nkhatabay markets.

According to NLGFC Engineer Joy Pankomera, physical progress in most of the markets is around 60 percent.

Pankomera said NLGFC is satisfied with the physical progress of the markets in all the districts and expects that the communities will start using them soon.

He added that it is expected that most of the construction works on site will come to a completion in all the markets before May 2021.

"We have had delays in Neno and Embangweni markets. However, we are sure that work in these markets will be finalised before May 2021," he said.

Pankomera says MIERA will accord opportunity for employment to community members in the eight targeted districts since the project recruits’ members of the surrounding area for manual work.

MIERA is a project funded by KFW, a German government agency for financing local development.

It was rolled out on January 1, 2017 and is expected to come to a completion in December 2021.

With only three months left for the MASAF IV project to wind up, significant strides are being made to ensure that the Social Support for Resilient Livelihoods Project (SSRLP) fully hits the ground in 2021.

NLGFC Director of Infrastructure and economic development, Paul Chipeta said SSRLP is built on lessons drawn from both MASAF IV and Enhanced Public Works Program (EPWP), the new objective is to improve resilience among ultra-poor and vulnerable population and to strengthen the national platform for safety nets in Malawi.

“SSRLP is guided by Malawi Social Support Program II (MNSSP II), with emphasis on moving beyond a primary focus on consumption support to include resilient livelihoods and linkages between safety nets and other programs among other things. That is why a greater focus is on Social Cash Transfer Program (SCTP) as an anchor programme and enhanced livelihoods support based on the MASAF IV lessons,” said Chipeta.

Since funds for running the project were passed by parliament in May this year, several processes and preparatory activities have been carried out under the project’s various components.

For instance, the Project Steering Committee has been set up and the Project Implementation Manual (PIM) developed. On the other hand, COMSIP Cooperative Union has developed a handbook for livelihood interventions while manuals are being developed for the scalable safety nets subcomponent.

In the wake of Covid 19 pandemic, Malawi Government under the same component, is also implementing the Covid 19 Urban Cash Intervention (CUCI) as a COVID-19 response to cushion livelihoods of the urban poor and those whose livelihoods depend on availability of piece work employment.

CUCI is being implemented in Mzuzu, Lilongwe, Blantyre and Zomba. So far, Targeting was done in Blantyre and Lilongwe. The first payments are expected to be transferred this December. The payments will be drawn from the SSRLP as the project is also designed to factor in response to emerging shocks and disasters.

National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC) says adhering to safeguards is key determinant for successful implementation of projects in communities.

Speaking during an inter-district learning visit at Mpherere micro-catchment in Kasungu and in Balaka district, Environmental and Social Safeguards Specialist at NLGFC Ephron Gausi said, ‘inter-district learning visits are organized to share experiences and best practice on progress of safeguards according to Environmental and Social Management Plan (ESMP)’.

Gausi said implementation of safeguards in the EPWP pilot project also meets requirements in Environmental and Social Safeguards laws and policies of Malawi Government’s Environmental Management Act of 2017 and are in line with World Bank policies in project implementation.

On his part, Michael Makonombera, Deputy Director at the Environmental Affairs Department responsible for information, education and outreach, said safeguards ensure that people and the environment are protected from potential adverse impact arising from implementation of project activities.

‘Following of environmental and social safeguards in project implementation minimizes adverse risks that come with non-adherence to basic safeguards’.

Makonombera said local communities whose livelihoods depend on natural resources stand to benefit when they take lead in identifying, planning and implementing appropriate interventions and guidelines to be followed during course of project’.

Kasungu and Balaka EPWP pilot project micro catchment committees, which hosted the visits, are adhering to safeguards. Some of them include, provision of site sanitary facilities, condoms, generation of awareness meetings on environmental and social safeguards at all sub-project levels, observance of COVID -19 preventive measures and provision of potable drinking water.

The communities have also revamped Grievance Redress Mechanism Committees (GRMCs) to resolve complaints as they emerge at the micro-catchment level.

The Governance to Enable Service Delivery (GESD) Project has become effective – meaning that all conditions have been met to allow for the official commencement of implementation. This follows World Bank communication to Malawi Ministry of Finance on Wednesday 16, December, 2020.

In a memo, Mara Warwick, World Bank Country Director for Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe Eastern and Southern Africa Region refers to financing agreement between Republic of Malawi and International Development Association, dated November 5, 2020 for GESD and confirms conditions for effectiveness of Financing Agreement have been met.

The Governance to Enable Service Delivery Project seeks to capacitate 28 local councils in areas of financial management, development planning and budget and project management in Malawi over 5 years for effective and improved service delivery to residents. This will include the introduction of a new Performance Based Grant (PBG) beginning in the next fiscal year (FY 21/22).

GESD is a 100-million dollar project facilitated by Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Local Government and National Local Government Finance Committee as key lead partners. Other implementing partners include: Accountant General, Central Internal Audit Office, Ministry of Economic Planning and Development and Public Sector Reforms, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, National Audit Office, and Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority – in addition to key partnerships with Civil Society Actors.

As the first pilot phase of the Enhanced Public Works Programme (EPWP) comes to an end, Blantyre District Council has embarked on an on-job training in order to ensure perfection in the coming phase.

The council’s Director of Planning Tamanya Harawa said on Wednesday that with support from GIZ, the trainings will take place in all the district’s catchments which are Mlombozi, Mombo, Dzunga, Chilambalale and Kajombo.

While describing the first phase of the pilot project as successful, Harawa said some catchments needed some guidance so that they perform well in the upcoming phase just like others.

“Generally, we have done well, of course with some catchments doing extremely well while others had some few challenges that need to be addressed. Some achievements include established nurseries, constructed check dams and swales, road reshaping and pitting,” said Harawa.

He, however, described inadequate supervision by frontline workers as well as difficulties in conducting live monitoring as some of the major challenges the phase faced, hence applauded GIZ for the timely support.

Dzunga Catchment chairperson Potani Ziyambeni said the on-job training was a significant catalyst in making sure that the project becomes a success. He then urged the council to continue monitoring the catchment’s activities so that the whole purpose of the project is fulfilled.

Said Ziyambeni; “Although we managed to conduct most of the activities on our own, we felt we lacked some expertise to do our work perfectly. But with the training, we hope to do better in the second phase so that area is totally transformed”.

Group Village head Kammata of Mombo Catchment said she would urge her subject to wholeheartedly work on the project, which in turn will provide long term benefits to them.

She additionally said she would encourage community members who are not part of the beneficiaries of the project to work voluntarily as the fruits of the project will benefit everyone.

EPWP is a natural resources World Bank funded project through Malawi Government that aims at creating quality and sustainable community assets in a holistic catchment management approach, with much emphasis on land resource conservation sub projects.

Apart from Blantyre district, the pilot phase of the EPWP started in September this year which will run for a period of nine months in the districts of Chitipa, Nkhotakota, Kasungu, Chiradzulu as well as Phalombe among the ten selected ones.

Story Credits: Loness Gwazanga, District Information Officer

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.

National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC) met with the National Assembly Adhoc Parliamentary Committee on the review of operational guidelines for Constituency Development Fund (CDF) and Water Fund at the Bingu International Convention Centre (BICC).

Committee Chair Ralph Jooma M.P said the review is focusing on issues stakeholders and members of parliament consider when implementing activities in their constituencies and technicalities at council level hence development of the guidelines. 

Jooma said the consultation had come after a similar exercise with the Ministry of Finance. He said it is important that all stakeholders are on the same page in the administering of the fund which had now risen to 40million kwacha per constituency.

The chair agreed that the fund can indeed tackle major projects hence the need for well-tailored and cut and fit guidelines with little or no room for error.

He added that the guidelines should be clear on reporting frames, timelines, supervision and roles of members of parliament.

NLGFC’s, Senior Budget Analyst Patricia Banda said that the reviewed guidelines should also on top of inclusion of the bigger projects slot in bursary schemes and review the list of key stakeholders at various steps in the CDF administration.

She also highlighted the need to lobby the Ministry of Finance to ensure that usage of development funding should roll over to the next financial year.

The meeting was attended by the cohort of the specially instituted committee who included the Deputy Chairperson, Honourable Liana Kakhobwe Chapota M.P.

The NLGFC was represented by a team which was led by the Director of Finance Dr. Kondwani Santhe.

It is widely known that “you can not use yesterdays tools in today’s job and expect to be in business tomorrow” (Anonymous). The fast-paced changes in the technological space globally mean that organizations need to adopt relevant tech-savvy responses to their work and intervention processes.

It has been close to two decades of Public Works in Malawi now. Beneficiaries continue receiving their wages the archaic hard cash methodology. It is outdated because it can easily be prone to fraud and theft as issues of money at the community and such levels are based on trust and mutual understanding.

However, this will be a story of yesterday as National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC) is piloting electronic payment for wages to beneficiaries in the Enhanced Public Works Programme in Balaka.

According to the NLGFC’s Director of Economic and Infrastructure Development (DI&ED), Eng. Paul Chipeta, this is a welcome development and a milestone in as far as public works are concerned in Malawi.

In an interview with this paper, Chipeta says e-payment of wages for public works beneficiaries the way to go and under this arrangement, a beneficiary gets his/her wages paid directly into their bank accounts or later other money receiving platforms.

“E-payment for EPWP beneficiaries in the pilot district of Balaka has started well and it has already minimised cases of beneficiaries not receiving their wages, eliminated fraud or theft grievances among others”, said Chipeta.

Speaking on the same during the pay parade for EPWP beneficiaries in Balaka, the District Liaison Officer, Mr Pieter Chiumbuzo applauded NLGFC for piloting e-payment of wages saying it is fast, secure, convenient and is proving to be a trusted way of receiving wages among beneficiaries.

“In other districts where they are still paying wages in hard cash, most beneficiaries think that their money has been tampered with through fraud, but with e-payment, they are assured that no one takes their money, as the wages get straight into their bank accounts,” Chiumbuzo said

One of the EPWP beneficiaries, Esnart Kusakala of Malikula catchment in Balaka was all smiles saying with the e-payment, she now has a bank account which she has never thought of having in her entire life. Kusakala said it is convenient as she also gets a transaction slip indicating the wages she has got and balance in her account which is evidence of the transaction.

Kusakala said, apart from receiving her wages for EPWP, she will also use the bank account for savings she acquires from proceeds of her other businesses including returns from her savings at her village savings group which she is a member.