Govt sets aside MK1bn fund to capacitate Malawian NGOs
Malawi Government, through the NGO Regulatory Authority (NGORA), put aside MK1 billion which it has dubbed “NGO Fund” to be used for building the capacity of local NGOs in sustainable project management, among other crucial areas.
Briefing stakeholders during a luncheon on Friday in Lilongwe, NGORA Chief Executive Officer Edward Chileka Banda said the first activity under the fund is a “capacity gap assessment” to establish “priority capacity issues that ought to be addressed”.
He said the initiative has come in view of the “background that projects implemented by local NGOs are not sustainable”, which makes communities fall back into poverty.
According to Chileka Banda, the government wants to ensure that NGOs build enough capacity to be able to manage and sustain projects and attract more funding, among others.
“With all the opportunities we have—land, water and other natural resources and the international aid coming—as an NGO sector we need to interrogate: are we making a bigger contribution?
“Are we achieving results? Are we helping our communities with the millions of funding coming through the NGO sector?
“If our communities are not changing and poverty not declining, it means there are gaps. We are tired of the narrative that Malawi is one of the poorest countries”.
Chileka Banda added that, through the capacity gap assessment, all stakeholders, including government and development partners will be mobilized in a quest to build the capacity of local NGOs to start working accordingly and effectively towards poverty alleviation.
“There is multiplicity and duplication of activities in the NGO sector which may be leading to poor results. The assessment will consolidate and harmonize the interventions.
“We need to streamline and align activities and projects to the government agenda. If NGOs channel all those resources towards specific areas of priority, Malawi can move forward”.
NGORA, a state-owned registrar and regulator of all NGOs and CSOs in Malawi, will be working on the capacity gap assessment with Robin MacGregor, an independent consultant who is supported by the British High Commission.
In his remarks, MacGregor said the assessment is vital, for it will expose the weaknesses and strengths ”that will be fed into the process of government funding to strengthen the NGOs”.
“For instance, if international donors need greater capacity in the local NGOs, we want to be much more specific about what that actually means so that we are building capacity in the right areas”.
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