The Interface meetings, were organised by Human Rights Consultative Committee (HRCC) under the Liu Lathu project. Both events were highly patronized by community members as well as the Area Development Committees. Among the duty bearers were MPs for both areas, MP Chitete for T/A Kapondo and MP Chisale for T/A Mduwa; T/As and Chiefs; Director of Planning and Development (DPD) of Mchinji District Council as well as the District Executive Committee.
In her opening remarks, the Board Member for HRCC Kamogholi Zalira said that “besides presenting the citizen Charters, the objectives of the two interface meetings were to empower traditional leaders to spearhead active civic engagement; promote citizens’ active involvement in setting the development agenda; as well as increased collaboration between the local public offices and the citizens in deciding developmental activities in Mchinji”.
Lily Musaya, Project Officer of the Liu Lathu programme said the Citizen Charters were development plans for T/A Mduwa and T/A Kapondo, which are spearheaded by traditional leaders from the two areas with inputs from community members. The documents contain the communities’ visions for the next five years, community endowments, aspirations, how they plan to achieve their aspirations as well as gap identifications in their plans that require external help.
T/A Kapondo, speaking on behalf of all chiefs, said that “we have welcomed the idea of Citizen Charter and we are hopeful it will bring meaningful development in our area”.
The interface meeting attracted both national and community media attention. MBC TV produced and broadcasted a programme on the interface meetings for T/A Mduwa and Kapondo, as well as put up a story of the meeting on their news bulletin. Zodiak Broadcasting Station reporter was also present at the function and Mudzi Wathu Community Radio Station covered the interface meeting.
The communities of T/A Kapondo and T/A Mduwa have therefore submitted their citizen charters to the District Commission so that the charters can be aligned to the district implementation plans.
HRCC in conjunction with Malawi Economic Justice Network (MEJN) and ODI will publish the charters and present them to the PS for Local Government and other relevant ministries for their action.
The project is being implemented in Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Uganda and Zambia. The local name for the Mwananchi programme in Malawi is Liu Lathu, which means ‘the voice’ in Chichewa. The national coordinating organisation is the Malawi Economic Justice Network (MEJN) – a Lilongwe-based non-governmental organisation with expertise on trade justice.
Although the programme is expected to have a national impact, implementation is in six districts namely Rumphi in the Northern region; Salima and Mchinji in the Central region; Mwanza, Zomba and Phalombe in the Southern region. In Mchinji, HRCC is implementing the programme in partnership with the Centre for Legal Assistance (CELA).
HRCC was awarded funding as the implementing organization of the Liu Lathu project in Mchinji, in T/A Mduwa and T/A Kapondo. The first phase of HRCC’s Liu Lathu project was implemented from January 2011 to December 2011 and the second phase between August to October 2012.
The Liu Lathu project aims to increase civil society and community awareness, knowledge, and skills requisite for reclaiming the right to development. This is intended to realize the outcome of generating more effective participation of communities in decision making and the need to increase community abilities in advocating policies, laws and practice that contribute to national poverty reduction, further entrenchment of the rights based approaches, and communities’ ability to demand accountability from public institutions.
HRCC has implemented key activities which include simplifying and popularizing the right to development and associated policy tools used by national as well as local governments.
In addition, HRCC has established an “Accountability Coalitions Committee” which links the community to the local assembly in Mchinji, and coordinates the participation of communities in the district's planning, implementation and monitoring processes.
This is with the assumption that the platform shall act as a conduit or tool for demanding answerability from local governments and consequently demanding accountability from national (central) government.
The project targets both Government and other non Governmental structures both at district, village, and community level.
This includes Area Development Committees (ADC), Village Developement Committes (VDC), Chiefs, the clergy, non governmental organisation and other recognised structures.
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