Malawi community leaders champion development
In Malawi, for a long time, service providers, public officers (including politicians) and NGO workers have been at the forefront implementing projects in different communities.
LILONGWE, Malawi - To achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the target year 2030 requires participation of everyone in development, including community leaders such as Village Heads (VHs), Group Village Heads (GVHs), Senior Chiefs and Traditional Authorities (TAs), writes Howard Mlozi.
The Center for Social Accountability and Transparency (Csat) has undertaken an ambitious task to empower grassroots structures, especially leaders to monitor development projects.
In Malawi, for a long time, service providers, public officers (including politicians) and NGO workers have been at the forefront implementing projects in different communities.
However, experts argue it is high time community members play a greater role in implementing and monitoring development projects.
"Community members need to know everything about development, including budgeting and how much contractors are given from government, timeframe and performance of the work," said Willy Kambwandira, Csat Executive Director.
He said community leaders are strategically positioned to play a key role in community development.
Through a project called 'Strengthening Governance Accountability Through Citizen Oversight', funded by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), Csat is championing the participation of community leaders in development to ensure the attainment of the SDGs.
Over 180 community leaders, including CSO representatives, chiefs and Women Groups from Dowa, Machinga and Mangochi districts have been trained on project tracking and monitoring.
For the past three years the trained community members have been working to hold duty bearers accountable particularly in infrastructure development.
"There is compromised service delivery in public projects if there is no robust community oversight," said Kambwandira.
"We believe there is always honesty and trust if all parties such as public officers, service providers and community members are involved at all stages of development process."