Social Support for Resilient Livelihoods Project procures vehicles for local councils

Social Support for Resilient Livelihoods Project (SSRLP) has delivered Toyota Hilux vehicles to 14 local councils, a development that is likely to reduce mobility challenges and hurdles in the concerned councils.

SSRLP) is a Malawi Government project being implemented through the National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC) and local councils.

The Minister of Local Government, Professor Blessings Chinsinga, officially handed over the vehicles to the local councils in Lilongwe, where he stressed that the vehicles must be used for the intended purpose.

At the same function, Chinsinga also handed over another Toyota Hilux and 17 motorcycles to Community Savings and Investment Promotion (COMSIP), which have also been procured under SSRLP.

SSRLP, a five-year project running from 2020-2025 is being funded by the World Bank to the tune of USD250 million and supports, among others, the implementation of Malawi National Social Support Programme 2, which operationalizes the aspirations of the National Social Support Policy (NSSP).

The project aims at improving resilience among the poor and vulnerable population and to strengthen the national platform for safety nets in Malawi.

As SSRLP expects to register more impact, local councils reportedly need to be empowered with more vehicles in order to contribute to the successful implementation of the project while also improving their own mobility and service delivery.

In this regard, Chinsinga emphasized that the priority of the Ministry of Local Government will be to ensure that these donated resources are adequately and rightly used by local councils.

“Our expectation is that councils will use the vehicles to carry out activities of the project and those activities that aim at serving people. So, we will be following up on how these vehicles are being used,” Chinsinga said.

NLGFC Board Chairperson, Commissioner Richard Chapweteka, said the ultimate beneficiary of this vehicle donation to councils are people in rural areas, where SSRLP seeks to exert more impact.

“However, councils, as implementers of the project, have had challenges visiting most rural areas because of lack of good vehicles that can withstand the difficult terrain and poor state of roads in rural areas.

So, this vehicle donation is a big thing to have happened for it will enable councils to execute this social cash transfer project with ease in rural areas, which will make communities become more appreciative of the impact of this project,” Chapweteka said.

The District Commissioner for Dowa, Alex Mdooko, hailed NLGFC and the government for the vehicles, saying the gesture is timely.

Other district councils that have received the vehicles include, among others: Rumphi, Karonga, Kasungu, Nkhata Bay and Ntchisi.

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