By Memory Chatonda

Blantyre, June 7, Mana: Blantyre District Council through the Climate Smart Enhanced Public Works Programme (CS-EPWP) has for the first time trained 40 digitizers to collect accurate data of the work being done by communities participating in restoring degraded landscapes to facilitate timely payment of their wages.

Speaking during the training on Thursday, Blantyre District Council Principal Information Management Analyst, Bengula Mhone said the digitizers are from 15 catchment areas including Chilambalare, Mgawa, Lirangwe 2, Mlombozi, Mikundi, Somba, Mabala, Mikundi, and Linjemesi where the project is being implemented in the district.

Mhone said the digitizers will make use of Mthandizi monitoring tool which is an android-based application to record daily work logs of the participants that are recorded on log sheets and the information will be directly captured into computer systems from the catchments.

“This will streamline the wages preparation process and the participants will enjoy timely receipt of their wages. This also means the subsequent cycles will start on time because there will not be any delays in between the cycle,” said Mhone.

Mhone said in the near future, the application shall also be used by extension workers to record progress and images of all project works.

Director of Planning and Development for Blantyre District Council, Melayi Mhone advised the digitizers to work with a high level of integrity and professionalism to ensure that accurate data is captured so that wages are paid on time.

Mary Sipuni, one of the digitizers from Nazombe catchment area, hailed the council for the training, pledging to utilize the knowledge gained to gather and record accurate data from the participants of the project.

One of the project participants from Mikundi catchment area, Moses Molofati said he is delighted with the new step which the council has taken to ensure that they receive their payments in time to support their households.

“At the moment, we wait for two weeks, sometimes a month after completing work in the cycle for the wages to reflect in our mobile phone wallet. But we are happy with this new development and we pledge to cooperate well with our digitizers,” he said.

CS-EPWP is implemented by district councils with support from the Multi-Donor Trust Fund, including the World Bank. The project is facilitated by the National Local Government Finance Committee.

In Blantyre, close to 17,200 communities participate in the project where they are involved in restoring degraded landscapes such as tree planting, construction of swales, gully reclamation and natural tree regeneration activities.