Consultative Dialogue between the Southern Africa Trust and Civil Society Organisations in Malawi.

Consultative Dialogue between the Southern Africa Trust and Civil Society Organisations in Malawi.
06 November 2008 Crossroads Hotel, Lilongwe, Malawi

Introduction

The Southern Africa Trust in collaboration with the Council for Non Governmental Organisations (CONGOMA) and the Malawi Economic Justice Networks (MEJN) organised a consultative dialogue on 6 November 2008 at the Crossroads Hotel, Lilongwe, Malawi. The objectives of the dialogue which was attended by 22 organisations were:

to introduce the work of the Southern Africa Trust to civil society organisations (CSOs) and to discuss possible areas of collaboration;

to understand the dynamics of CSOs in Malawi so as to enable the Trust to respond effectively to their needs; and
to learn best practices civil society organisations use to influence policy processes in Malawi.

Opening Session

In welcoming the participants to the consultative dialogue, a Trustee of the Southern Africa Trust, Dr Perks Ligoya called for a frank and constructive dialogue.
In his introductory remarks, Neville Gabriel, Executive Director of the Southern Africa Trust, outlined the strategies of the Trust as well as the current projects supported by his organisation in Malawi. Gabriel expressed the Trust’s interest in working with CSOs in Malawi particularly in creating better opportunities for policy engagement.

Presentations

Ted Nandolo, Executive Director of CONGOMA outlined the background to NGO existence and work in Malawi. He noted the challenges as:

Uneven spread of NGO work across the country polarizes development benefits to communities often leaving out the poorest of the poor;
NGOs face the challenge of establishing a beneficiary constituency considering their unelected position;
NGO’s are inadequately equipped in terms of capacity of their boards to govern the NGO’s and technical managerial capacity to manage these NGOs;
Most NGOs have weak systems and structures to manage issues of corruption, money laundering;etc
Weak inter NGO capacity building support;
Most NGOs are unable to meet their financial accountability obligation e.g. production of annual audited accounts because of prohibitive market prices of audit services; and
Most NGOs are unable to effectively engage with regional and continental bodies due to capacity and resource constraints.

Nandolo underscored the need for NGOs to walk the talk of accountability and good governance by making sure that their boards are strong and have effective structures and systems.
Presenting a paper on Strengthening Economic Governance in Malawi – The role of Civil Society, Andrew Kumbatira, Executive Director of the Malawi Economic Justice Networks highlighted Malawi‘s economic challenges as follows:

Living standards of the majority of Malawians remain amongst the lowest in the world;
Poverty continues to spread, deepen and increase in severity;
Inequalities keep widening;
Consolidation of democracy continues to be illusive to many; and
Government alone can not address all the challenges- civil society needs to come in to articulate the voices of the voiceless and effectively participate in policy formulation processes.

Kumbatira noted that it is the responsibility of civil society to turn these challenges into opportunities for more effective and efficient action on the ground in Malawi to save lives and improve the quality of life. He also pointed out the need for implementation of development programmes that promote agriculture which must be supported by appropriate trade, investment and macroeconomic policy measures.
Focusing on Smallholder Farmers and Food Security in Malawi, Amon Chinyophiro, Community Development Programme Manager of the National Smallholder Farmers’ Association of Malawi noted that smallholder famers account for 80% of food production through subsistence farming. The main food crop is maize, supplemented by rice, cassava, sorghum, pulses and sweet potatoes. Chinyophiro outlined the challenges facing the smallholder farmers as:

Insufficient resources to acquire food on the market;
Insufficient and poor infrastructure to support food markets;
Lack of synergies in policies;
Lack of reliable data to inform policies at national level; and
Agriculture susceptible to drought – need to invest on irrigation resources.

Discussion: Key Issues
Key issues that emerged during discussion include:

The need to strengthen engagement of civil society with regional ones for harmonised participation processes;
The willingness of the civil society to engage in policy dialogue but capacity is still lacking;
CONGOMA needs support in order to really serve as a framework for consultation among civil society organisations;
Does CSOs have the capacity to handle donors?
The inclusion of educational programmers in the Trust’s programme of action;
The general interest to have voices of the poor involved on issues that affect them but that is hampered by lack of capacity and resources; and
The need to promote community radio stations.

Potential Areas of Collaboration between the Trust and CSOs in Malawi:

Explore ways of developing guidelines on how CSO engage in policy processes;
Support smallholder farmers to increase food production;
Grant-making to appropriate civil society initiatives; and
Strengthen the link between the Council of NGOs in Malawi (CONGOMA) with the civil society organisations in the country and the SADC – NGOs to encourage participation on regional development activities.

Participants list for the
Consultative Dialogue with Malawi Civil Society Organizations,
06 November 2008 Crossroads Hotel, Lilongwe, Malawi

MR. KONDWANI CHIKADZA Institution Representing: IPRSE Position: PROJECT MANAGER Physical Address: CENTRE HOUSE ARCADE Telephone: 01 77 11 68 Mobile: 08 787 512 Email1: ise@malawi.net Email2: kchikadza@yahoo.com	MR. WAPONA KITA Institution Representing: MALAWI LAW SOCIETY Position: PRESIDENT LL CHAPTER Physical Address: DEVELOPMENT HOUSE CITY CENTRE Telephone: 01 774 208 Mobile: 09 260 876 Fax: 01 774 702 Email1: wapongkita@yahoo.ca.uk	MS ELLEN MHANGO Institution Representing: HRCC Position: PROGRAMME MANAGER Physical Address: P O BOX 30316 LILONGWE Telephone: 01 724 171 Mobile: 09 565 300 Fax: 01 724 631 Email1: emhango@gmail.com Email2: emhango@hrccmw.org
MS DEBORAH CHIPOFYA Institution Representing: DAILY TIMES Position: REPORTER Physical Address: OFF CHILAMBULA, RD.MANDALA STRT Telephone: 01 753 289 Mobile: 09 445 436 Fax: 01 753 289 Email1: nyangulud@yahoo.co.uk	MS. DOROTHY NGOMA Institution Representing: NATIONAL ORGANISATION OF NURSES AND MIDWIVES OF MALAWI Position: EX DIRECTOR Physical Address: GARDEN COURT LODGE AREA 11 BOX 30393 LL3 Telephone: 08 838 964 Email1: dorothygngoma@yahoo.com	MR. McTONNICK PHIRI Institution Representing: PODCAM Position: NEC CHAIRPERSON Physical Address: NEAR KAMBA MARKET, BLANTYRE Telephone: 01 871 688 Mobile: 08 782 162 Fax: 01 871 683 Email1: podcam@malawi.net
REVEREND ALLAN CHIPHIKO Institution Representing: NKHOMA SYNOD Position: PROGRAMME DIRECTOR Physical Address: P O BOX 132, LL Telephone: 01 727 357 Mobile: 09 295 992 Fax: 01 727 357 Email1: church-society@malawi.net	MR ALLIAJI KASSIM S. ALLI Institution Representing: MUSLIM ASSOCIATION OF MALAWI Position: DONAH COORDINATOR Physical Address: AREA 2 PAWALO LANSOVU Telephone: 01 920 516 Mobile: 09 332 205	MR PRINCE KAPONDAMGAGA Institution Representing: FARMERS UNION OF MW Position: EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Physical Address: BOX 30457, LILONGWE 3 Telephone:+ 265 1 750 222/228/229 Mobile: +265 9 716 347 Fax: +265 1 750 228 Email1: pkapondamgaga@farmersunion.mw Email2: prinkap@hotmail.com
MR ALIFEYO M. NYASULU Institution Representing: CISA NET Position: PROGRAMME OFFICER Physical Address: BOX 203, LL Telephone: 01 770 479 Mobile: 08 202 652 Fax: 01 770 492 Email1: alifeyo@cisanetmw.org Email2: cisanet@cisanetmw.org	MR ANON CHINYOPHIRO Institution Representing: NASFAM Position: CDP MANAGER Physical Address: NASFAM HOUSE BOX 30716, LL 3 Mobile: +265 9 955 421 Fax: +265(0) 1 770 858 Email1: achinyophiro@nasfam.org Email2: amonjosam@yahoo.com	*MS BEATRICE MKWAILA MAKWENDA* Institution Representing: NASFAM Position: POLICY COORDINATOR Physical Address: OFF AFRICAN UNITY DRIVE, _1 Telephone: + 265 1 772 866 Mobile: +265 9 944 989 Fax: +265 1 770 858 Email1: bmkwaila@nasfam.org Email2: bmkwaila@yahoo.co.uk
MR BAXTER NKHOMA Institution Representing: MALAWI BROADCASTING CORPORATION UBC Position: REPORTER Physical Address: BOX 162 LL MEMA STUDIOS Telephone: 08 319 764 Mobile: 08 319 764 Email1: baxchikoko@journalist.com	MR LLYOD MTALIMANJA Institution Representing: E.A.M Position: MICAH CHALLENGE COORDDINATOR Physical Address: FALLS BAPTIST SEMINARY Telephone: 01 726 656 Mobile: 09 896 270 Fax: 01 725 107 Email1: eaom@africa-online.net Email2: llyodmtalimanja@yahoo.com	MR BEDNEDICT KONDOWE Institution Representing: CSC & BE Position: NATIONAL COORDINATOR Physical Address: AFRICANA HOTEL Telephone: 01 770 229 Mobile: 09 613 751/08 613 751 Fax: 01 770 172 Email1: cscqbe@sdnp.org .mw Email2: bskondowe@yahoo.com
MS MATHINDA BANDA Institution Representing: NICE Position: PROGRAMME OFFICER Physical Address: MANOBEC COMPLEX AREA 4, LL Mobile: 08 208 923 Email1: mbanda@nicemw.org	MR WILLIAM BWANAOPE Institution Representing: ACTION AID INTERNATIONAL Position: PROGRAMME SUPPORT COORDINATOR Physical Address: BOX 30735 Telephone: 01 757 500 Mobile: 09 312 307 Fax: 01 757 330 Email1: William.bwanaope@actionaid.org Email2:William.bwanaope@ids.ac.uk	MR ANDREW KUMBATIRA Institution Representing: MALAWI ECONOMIC JUSTICE NET Position: EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Physical Address: CITY CENTRE, CENTRE HOUSE ARCADE Telephone: +265 1770 050 Mobile: +265 8 877 920 Fax: +265 1 770 068 Email1: akumbatira@mejn.mw
*MS BERTHA CHINDZA BANDA* Institution Representing: CENTRE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS & REHABILITATION Position: PROJECT OFFICER Physical Address: A47, P O BOX 2340 LL Telephone: 01 761 122 Mobile: 09 268 821 Fax: 01 761 700 Email1: chrr@sdnp.org.mw Email2: wakisa04@yahoo.com	MR HENDRIX BANDA Institution Representing: MALAWI CONGRESS OF TRADE UNIONS Position: GENERAL SECRETARY Physical Address: P O BOX 1271 LILONGWE MALAWI Telephone: 01 752 162 Mobile: 09 355 100 Fax: (265) 01 752 162 Email1: hendrixbanda@yahoo.com	MR OWEN LUPESKA Institution Representing: ZODIAK BROADCASTING STATION Position: PROJECTS OFFICER Physical Address: P/BAG 312- LILONGWE Telephone: 01 761 551 Mobile: 08 729 684 Fax: 01 176 2 724 Email1: lupeskaoj@yahoo.co.uk
REV. MACDONALD SEMBEREKA Institution Representing: MAPHUNZIRD FOUNDATION/LONGOMA Position: CHAIRPERSON Physical Address: C/O AMINA HOUSE P/BAG 307 LL3 Telephone: 01 552 373 Mobile: +265 8863 884 Email1: msembereka@gmail.com Email2: maphundziro_foundation@yahoo.com	MR ANDREW USSI Institution Representing: LEG Position: POLICY & ADVOCACY DIRECTOR Physical Address: OPP LILONGWE TECH. COLLEGE Telephone: 01 921 3805 Mobile: 08 626 159 Email1: legmalawi@yahoo.com Email2: andrewussi@yahoo.co.uk	DR RONALD KANJIRA Institution Representing: CENTRAL MALAWI CONFERENCE OF SDA Position: PRESIDENT Physical Address: P/BAG B516 LILONGWE Telephone: 01 773 814 Mobile: 08 851 594
DR PERKS LIGOYA Institution Representing: SOUTHERN AFRICA TRUST Position: TRUSTEE Physical Address: 4 Midridge North, International Business Gateway, 6th Road (off New Road, Midrand, South Africa Telephone: +27 11 318 1012 Email: casper@sdnp.org.mw	MS SHIRLEY MOULDER Institution Representing: SOUTHERN AFRICA TRUST Position: TRUSTEE Physical Address: 4 Midridge North, International Business Gateway, 6th Road (off New Road, Midrand, South Africa Telephone: +27 11 318 1012 Email: smoulder@mail.ngo.za	MR NEVILLE GABRIEL Institution Representing: SOUTHERN AFRICA TRUST Position: EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Physical Address: 4 Midridge North, International Business Gateway, 6th Road (off New Road, Midrand, South Africa Telephone: +27 11 318 1012 Email: ngabriel@southernafricatrust.org
MR Themba Mhlongo Institution Representing: SOUTHERN AFRICA TRUST Position: Regional Integration Advisor Physical Address: 4 Midridge North, International Business Gateway, 6th Road (off New Road, Midrand, South Africa Telephone: +27 11 318 1012 Email: tmhlongo@southernafricatrust.org	MR ASHLEY GREEN THOMPSON Institution Representing: SOUTHERN AFRICA TRUST Position: GRANTS MANAGER Physical Address: 4 Midridge North, International Business Gateway, 6th Road (off New Road, Midrand, South Africa Telephone: +27 11 318 1012 Email: agreen-thompson@southernafricatrust.org	*MS PETRONILLA NDEBELE* Institution Representing: SOUTHERN AFRICA TRUST Position: COMMUNICATIONS AND PARTNERSHIPS MANAGER Physical Address: 4 Midridge North, International Business Gateway, 6th Road (off New Road, Midrand, South Africa Telephone: +27 11 318 1012 Email:pndebele@southernafricatrust.org
MR BRUNO DINDELO Institution Representing: SOUTHERN AFRICA TRUST Position:? Physical Address: 4 Midridge North, International Business Gateway, 6th Road (off New Road, Midrand, South Africa Telephone: +27 11 318 1012 Email: bdindelo@southernafricatrust.org	MS KARIN MATTHEE Institution Representing: SOUTHERN AFRICA TRUST Position: ADMINISTRATOR Physical Address: 4 Midridge North, International Business Gateway, 6th Road (off New Road, Midrand, South Africa Telephone: +27 11 318 1012 Email: kmatthee@southernafricatrust.org	MR LESEGO THATHANE Institution Representing: SOUTHERN AFRICA TRUST Position: PA- EXEC DIRECTOR Physical Address: 4 Midridge North, International Business Gateway, 6th Road (off New Road, Midrand, South Africa Telephone: +27 11 318 1012 Email: lthathane@southern africatrust.org
*MS MPHO KGOSIDINTSI* Institution Representing: SOUTHERN AFRICA TRUST Position: SENIOR COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER Physical Address: 4 Midridge North, International Business Gateway, 6th Road (off New Road, Midrand, South Africa Telephone: +27 11 318 1012 Email:mkgosidintsi@southernafricatrust.org	MS LUCY Institution Representing: MALAWI ECONOMIC JUSTICE NET Position: SECRETARY Physical Address: CITY CENTRE, CENTRE HOUSE ARCADE Telephone: +265 1770 050 Fax: +265 1 770 068 Email: lkadyampakeni@mejn.mw