By Lekereni Chinkhota

Salima, August 13, MANA: Salima District Council has applauded participants under Climate Smart Enhanced Public Works Programme (CS-EPWP) for their commitment towards environmental restoration initiatives.

Speaking on Monday at Gwirize catchment, District Project Facilitator, Josephine Ngaivale said people participating in the programme are doing a commendable job since its commencement in 2022, and that there is no major setback such as boycotting work.

"We have started payments as a district and have made good progress.  Salima is one of the few districts that have started payments for this cycle. We appreciate the dedication of people to work with us in restoring the degraded land in the district.

"So far we have not encountered any major challenges with the participants. Most of the things that we are facing is lack of documentation for the participants to receive their wages. For example, not having national IDs, some are using other people's names something we do not allow as per project criteria." She said.

A participant from Nnoloma village in the area of Senior Chief Pemba, Patson Wisiki said the programme has helped his family in many ways, hence his dedication to participate and work in all activities being assigned.

"This programme has benefited me so much in the past cycles. I have managed to buy maize and fertilizer for my household, but also to buy uniforms and books for my children to excel in their education,” he said.

Wisiki emphasized that it is important to take care of the family needs before using the money for other purposes.

Concurring with Wisiki, another participant from Chindungwa 2, Aisha Chapola said she will use the money to buy school uniform and pay for her children's school fund.

She however said the money is not enough to cater for all her family's needs and appealed to government increase the wages.

"The money is little and most of the times its delayed. We fail to take care of our families with it because its little," she said.

Salima is expected to finish the payments in 24 days starting with large catchments which are 8 in total.

The district has 18 catchments, of which 10 are model ones while eight are standard catchments where CS-EPWP is being implemented.

CS-EPWP is a component under the Social Support for Resilient Livelihoods Project (SSRLP). The SSRLP is a Malawi Government project funded by the Multi Donor Trust Fund facilitated by the NLGFC in all the 28 district councils.