There was a time when just seeing Soche Hill would make Edda Libwalo, 73, glow with happiness.

Those were the days when the famous landmark of Blantyre District had lush vegetation. Then, trees were in abundance, as were wild fruits.

“When I was young, we used to go to Soche Hill to gather wild fruits and other edibles. The hill was a source of our livelihood. I long for my girlhood days,” she says.

She laments that what was once a wonder to behold and their source of livelihood is now an eyesore, devoid of trees. 

“The hill has been robbed of its beauty and I am bitter. I no longer take delight in the hill,” says Libwalo of Traditional Authority (TA) Somba in Blantyre.

Her anger over the depletion of trees around Soche Hill prompted her to be involved in a programme that aims to address her concerns.

The Climate Smart Enhanced Public Works Programme (EPWP) has given Libwalo a glimmer of hope that Soche Hill will be restored to its former glory.

The National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC) is facilitating the implementation of the eight-month EPWP on a pilot basis, and rolled out in September 2020.

NLGFC is a constitutional body established to mobilize, distribute and ensure efficient utilization of financial resources among local authorities for effective and efficient service delivery and development in Malawi.

The K310 million-EPWP is being implemented in Chitipa, Karonga, Nkhotakota, Kasungu, Dowa, Lilongwe, Balaka, Chiradzulu, Phalombe and Blantyre districts.

EPWP aims to address the challenges faced during the implementation of the World Bank-financed Malawi Social Action Fund (MASAF) 1V Productive Public Works Programme.

The challenges included low compliance with technical norms and standards, creation of large catchments that were difficult to manage, inadequate financial support to extension workers for their operations, and limited monitoring and supervision by local authorities.

The challenges resulted in the creation of low-quality community assets, and lack of ownership to sustain such assets.

The programme attempts to address the challenges in preparation for the implementation of future PWP interventions in Malawi.

In the case of Blantyre, the district has five EPWP catchments, one of which is Kajombo covering Group Village Headmen Jumbe and Somba.

The catchment, which is in the area of TA Somba, comprises eight villages including Somba 1 where Libwalo comes from.

Agriculture is the main activity in the catchment where households grow different types of crops during rainfall season.

During irrigation season, the catchment grows tomatoes, onions, leaf vegetables and green maize. 

But sadly, the Kajombo catchment which falls within the Soche Hill watershed has in recent years suffered from severe environmental degradation.

The degradation of the hill has had a negative effect on the locals’ lives who are now struggling to live due to a reduction in their crop yields.    

“Soche Hill is an asset not only to people in the catchment but also to the watershed,” says Thokozani Mwape, the Agriculture Extension Development Coordinator (AEDO) for the area. 

The watershed encompasses Limbe, Misesa, Quarry, Manja and other populated surrounding areas.

“It is a source of firewood, poles and water for domestic use. It is also a habitat for a range of game,” Mwape told this writer in an interview in Somba 1 Village.

He says Soche Hill has been deforested because of encroachment, quarry mining, careless cutting of trees and the starting of bush fires.

These illegal human activities, according to Mwape, have resulted in devastating soil and water loss, creation of more gullies and reduction of farm land.

He says: “This has made most households to be food-insecure.”  

Mwape says because of illegal human activities around Soche Hill, some rivers and streams dried up, reducing access to water for domestic use.

The EPWP’s focus is therefore on Integrated Watershed Management (IWM) covering sub-projects such as land resource conservation, afforestation, environment and road infrastructure, and sustainable livelihoods. 

EPWP, which has been designed to strengthen household resilience to shocks and create community assets, targets ultra-poor households.

Most of the households in Kajombo catchment are poor and not surprisingly, they have embraced the EPWP, seeing it as a chance to right their wrongs.

During a community participatory rural appraisal exercise, land degradation due to soil erosion was identified as the number problem in the catchment.

Locals have initiated several projects aimed not only at restoring Soche Hill to its former beauty, but also improving soil fertility within the catchment.

The interventions include planting trees around Soche Hill and along river banks to stop land from being degraded further.

Communities are also making water and soil conservation structures such as swales and marker ridges, and check dams to prevent soil erosion.

They EPWP has also given them an opportunity to embarked on income generating activities such as fish farming to improve their well-being.

The EPWP targets 1,000 participants per district and a maximum of five micro-catchments in each district, not larger than 250 hectares each. 

Libwalo is one of the 200 beneficiaries who are implementing the micro projects in the Kajombo catchment.

She says she decided to participate in the programme despite her advanced age for one reason:  to restore Soche Hill.

“It was a beautiful sight in the Ngwazi’s time,” Libwalo says, vividly full of nostalgia for the days of Malawi’s first President, Hastings Kamuzu Banda.

Libwalo, who has 15 grandchildren children, blames the introduction of multiparty politics in the country in the early 1990s for the destruction of Soche Hill.  

“It began with corrupt forest guards who let in people to cut trees after being bribed. Before long, it became a free-for-all,” she says.

Although Libwala is paid for the work she does, she says her motive is a genuine desire to stop further destruction of the environment in the area.

Beneficiaries of the EPWP which ends in March 2021, get wages that are intended to assist in stimulation of local markets as people spend their money to buy their daily needs.

“I want to see a change before I follow my ancestors,” Libwala told this writer as she busied herself tending tree seedlings in a nursery in her village.  

About 10,000 trees are to be planted around Soche Hill. More than half have been planted.  

Maria Supuni, 37, one of the Kajombo catchment supervisors, or foremen as they are known, concurs with Libwala.

“Once upon a time, this place was forested. The soil was fertile and we often had good crop harvests,” she says.

“Today, the forests are gone, and so, too, the rich soil. As a consequence, we frequently have floods and dry spells, resulting in poor crop yields.”

 Supuni says unless people stop doing things that harm the environment, “hunger will continually knock on our doors.”   

Mwape says the EPWP has helped a lot to change people’s attitude towards the environment through training and their own experience.

“They have realized the importance of re-afforestation, and having soil and water conservation structures,” he says.

Mwape says people are so keen to preserve the environment that they have bye-laws that are being enforced through local leaders and community policing.    

“Such zeal will sustain the programme as communities own it and take full responsibility for addressing environmental issues,” he says.

Story Credits: Gospel Mwalwanda (Contributor)

14 billion Kwacha has been transferred to ultra poor households in Malawi under Social Cash Transfer Programme (SCTP) a sub component of MASAF IV Programme.

Natonal Local Government Finance Committee [NLGFC] Social Development Officer, Mateso Kazembe said this in an interview with this newsletter.  Kazembe said 2020 is exceptional as payment of transfers has been regular and fulfilling MASAF IV guiding principles.

“In 2020, despite COVID-19 pandemic, we made sure that the programme implementation was not affected. We are grateful for milestones we have achieved this year especially upward adjustment of average transfers to MK9,000 from MK6,500 per household,” said Kazembe.

Kazembe said adjustment is supposed to happen every financial year but could not materialize in last 3 years.

Other notable milestones achieved under SCT programme this year include transferring resources to councils for two cycles (March-April;May-June)  at once and also implementing a  vertical expansion where SCTP beneficiary households received an extra MK5, 000 on top of average MK 9,000 for a period of four months as part of the Covid19 pandemic response to help them afford basic needs.

Furthermore, all councils received Covid 19 Personal Protective Equipment [PPE] to distribute in clusters in Council's.

 On challenges facing programme, the Social Development Officer, said issues of abuse of beneficiary resources still popped up here and there. “cases of duplication and ghost beneficiaries are some of the issues that the component has had to iron out together with central level team such that some suspected officials in councils have been suspended and will be prosecuted,” he said.

SCTP is an unconditional Malawi Government cash transfer programme which supports ultra-poor and incapacitated households in the country. It aims to reduce poverty, hunger and starvation in targeted households  all councils..

The MASAF IV project finally shuts shop in March 2021. However,  SCTP will continue to be implemented under its successor, Social Support Resilient Livelihoods Project (SSRLP).

Government has called upon Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to be vigilant in ensuring that duty bearers are held to account as they execute their duties.

In an interview with the NLGFC Newsletter, focal point person for the Governance to Enable Service Delivery (GESD), focal person at the Ministry of Local Government, Flemings Nyirenda said CSOs have a huge role to play during the programme’s implementation.

‘GESD is a result-based approach that will incentivize effectiveness and accountability performance of local local authorities’ said Nyirenda.

Nyirenda said the ministry expects CSO’s to take part in holding duty bearers accountable through advocating for transparency in terms of financial reporting and intergovernmental fiscal transfers are indeed being implemented as planned.

"CSOs are expected to engage citizens but also link councils with communities. They are our trusted partners. We believe that by engaging them, communities will have requisite information that will assist them hold duty bearers accountable and in turn get good services," he said.

On his part, National Co-ordinator for Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP), Boniface Chibwana said CSOs are ready to complement government’s effort in enhancing service delivery in local authorities.

Chibwana said councils are very instrumental in the country’s development and coming in of CSO’s like CCJP will make sure that the project objectives have been achieved.

"We are there as referees to monitor the implementation progress. CSO’s will see to it that rights holders have a say in issues that are taking place at the council," he said.

GESD is a K78 Billon ($100 million) grant from the World Bank. Its objective is to strengthen local authorities’ institutional performance, citizen engagement, duty bearer responsiveness to citizens and management of resources for service delivery.

The project will run for 5 years with the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development and Public Sector Reforms, Ministry of Local Government, National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC) and Local Authorities as lead implementing agencies.

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.