‘Over the years, Malawi has witnessed an unfortunate decline in economic growth’—NGORA CEO

Edward Chileka-Banda

* Inequalities between the poor and the rich have worsened resulting in the majority of the population dependent on aid and handouts

* Increased poverty and sluggish economic growth have triggered an increase in aid to Malawi

* By the international community, to the point where 40% of our national budget was financed by development partners

By Duncan Mlanjira

“Over the years, Malawi has witnessed an unfortunate decline in economic growth pushing many of our people into absolute poverty and hunger,” maintains Edward Chileka-Banda, Chief Executive Officer for NGO Regulatory Authority (NGORA).

He said this today at the official launch of the NGO Fund by Minister of Gender, Community Development & Social Welfare, Jean Sendeza at Amaryllis Hotel in Blantyre, adding that “inequalities between the poor and the rich have worsened resulting in the majority of the population dependent on aid and handouts”.

“This year, Malawi clocked 60 years of its hard-earned independence from colonial rule,” he said. “The dream of our forefathers and those who fought for this independence was a better Malawi.

“This better Malawi would come in as a result of increased investments in socio-economic projects including education, health, food security, and industrialization that was expected to lead to sustained economic growth.

“Reports indicate that indeed, Malawi’s economy grew faster than that of Qatar and Malaysia in the 70’s,” he said, adding: “Increased poverty and sluggish economic growth have triggered an increase in aid to Malawi by the international community, to the point where 40% of our national budget was financed by development partners.

In the history of development aid, Chilewe-Banda analysed that Malawi experienced three major developments since the dawn of multiparty democracy in 1993 — the mushrooming of NGOs or civil society organizations (CSOs), which prompted the need for regulations in form of the NGO Act and NGO Policy in the 2000s.

“Secondly, due to some inefficiencies in managing aid within the government and reports of increased corruption, off-budget support by donors increased, leading to NGOs (both international and local) becoming key players in service delivery beyond the promotion of human rights and good governance.

“Thirdly, the NGO Sector has witnessed and continues to witness the dominance of international agencies over the years. This is a very significant development as it points to so many factors including concerns over low capacity among local agencies (government and local NGOs) to effectively manage development aid.

“A surge in several of international agencies directly implementing projects in our communities is clear evidence of lack of trust in local agencies and systems to effectively deliver services to the intended beneficiaries. 

“The debate over low capacity in the NGO sector has seen accusations and counter-accusations as regards the root causes. Whether the low capacity in the NGO sector is a result of weaker institutions, lack of effective coordination among players (both government and NGOs), or indeed due to poor monitoring systems — the truth remains however, that our communities are increasingly becoming more dependent on aid or handouts than ever before.”

He thus expressed NGORA’s “deep gratitude” to President Chakwera, who mooted out the NGO Fund, when he attended NGO Day in Lilongwe last year where a 2023 NGO Sector Report was also launched — which highlighted some serious challenges the sector was experiencing.

The challenges included compliance rate of registered NGOs, which is currently at 61% and seeing the gap in capacity building due to financial constraints, the President directed Ministry of Gender, Community Development & Social Welfare and NGORA to work out how the sector could be capacitated.

It led to the government factoring the NGO Fund in its 2024/25 National Budget, which Parliament passed pegged at K1 billion.

“NGORA is grateful to the Ministry of Gender, Community Development, &  Social Welfare, and the Ministry of Finance for unwavering support towards this NGO Fund,” said Chileka-Banda.

On her part, NGORA Board chairperson, Innocentia Ottober, said the NGO sector has a number of legal frameworks to help in the running of its affairs through the NGO Act that tasks NGORA with a mandate to register and regulate the operations of NGOs in the country, whilst the NGO Policy provides overall framework and direction within the NGO Sector.

“The Policy also provides a foundation for strengthening NGO partnerships towards their contributions in the underlying national development strategies to ensure NGO activities are aligned to national development agenda such as Malawi 2063 and international instruments such as the SDGs.

“Currently, NGORA has registered 1,045 NGOs, and is aware that there are around 150 active non-registered NGOs. Further to this, NGORA is also mandated to offer incentives to NGOs to ensure that they are operating in a conducive environment and to sensitise the sector on issues of compliance with the law in order to promote public and donor confidence in the sector.

“Unfortunately, due to financial constraints, and issues of low compliance in the sector, NGORA has struggled to implement two key objects of the NGO Act — namely promoting the development of a strong civil society in Malawi and creating a conducive environment for NGO development through government incentives.

“It is against this background that the government, through NGORA introduced the K1 billion NGO Fund to help empower the sector through different initiatives. The incentives will build the sectors capacity both at human and technical level to ensure Malawi has a conducive environment for NGOs.”

Specifically, Ottober highlighted that the fund will focus on the following areas:

1. Institutional strengthening – This will focus on enhanced institutional operations and thereby improve skills development, project management, financial management and community empowerment;

2. Improved Coordination – The fund aims to improve the coordination and collaboration of NGOs and government entities as well as coordinating bodies and;

3. Enhanced monitoring and learning — This will improve service delivery through monitoring of NGO work by NGORA, line ministries and district councils.

“In order to achieve these key focus areas, NGORA has held stakeholder consultative meetings to establish key issues that lead to financial challenges in the sector. The Authority further conducted a capacity gap assessment to identify common gaps that require urgent attention.

“We at NGORA are very excited that we have gathered for the launch of the Fund today. I would like to call upon all of us to work together to ensure that once the fund is rolled out, these funds will be used for their intended purpose.

Also present was Secretary for Ministry of Gender, Community Development, & Social Welfare, Nertha Semphere, who took cognizance that NGOs implement diverse activities in different sectors from health, to education, agriculture, gender, human rights and the environment among others.

“They assist government in the provision of services in places that government sometimes struggles to reach. NGOs have also employed thousands of Malawians in diverse professions.

“Government, therefore, believes that the NGO sector is a necessity for a thriving democracy as well as the improvement of the livelihood of Malawian lives as their impact on communities is immense — and because of the influence that they have, it is important to have an NGO sector that is fully capacitated in order for it to fulfil its mandate.

“The fund being launched today is in response to concerns raised by NGOs and donors regarding capacity constraints. The fund will boost sectoral strength and capacitate the sector.

“This NGO Fund will promote the localisation agenda and also be used to build institutional capacity of NGOs that will include systems strengthening and compliance to the NGO Act and Policy, she said, adding that the investment will enhance financial and institutional sustainability, foster Government-NGO partnerships, provide seed funding to selected NGOs, and empower potential CBOs to transition into NGOs.

“I am very aware of the capacity gaps that have affected the sector, and I am therefore very hopeful that this fund will in a way help to alleviate some of those.

“My plea, therefore, is for the fund to be utilised for its intended purpose. I want to plead with the NGOs, Councils and all those who will get the funds to utilise them within the confines of the law.

“This means that they have to follow the law which requires them to submit to NGORA on an annual basis audited financial statements, annual reports outlining activities undertaken in that year, and annual returns summarising the NGOs administrative information.

“Overall, I am confident that this NGO Fund will play a vital role in promoting facilitating continuous improvement in our NGOs,” she said.