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.