By Brian Wasili
Mwanza, February 19, Mana: Mangochi and Machinga district council officials toured Mwanza on a learning visit to tap knowledge on how the district manages Climate Smart Enhanced Public Works Programmes (CS-EPWP) as a result of good coordination with participating communities in various environmental conservation activities.
Desk Officer for CS-EPWP, Idruce Kanyenda, hailed the two district councils for choosing Mwanza as their learning point saying the tour also offers knowledge sharing opportunity.
Kanyenda said this on Tuesday during a wrap up meeting to get inputs from the visiting teams after touring various catchments that conserve the environment while addressing other issues associated with climate change.
“This programme is a game changer for our communities because we are seeing great progress in reforestation, soil and water conservation and sustainable livelihoods.
“Hosting our colleagues from Mangochi and Machinga is an opportunity to share lessons and challenges as we work towards common development goals,” Kanyenda said.
In an interview with Malawi News Agency (MANA) District Project Facilitator for Mangochi, Levy Mwambakulu, described the tour as ideal saying his team is looking forward to learn from Mwanza’s experiences.
“We have similar projects back home. We were compelled to visit Mwanza after learning its progress in the programme. This has given us valuable insights,” he said.
Mwambakulu said his team learnt that good coordination with local structures and applying community driven approaches are best practices in achieving best results in implementing activities in the CS-EPWP.
He said Mangochi will take into consideration all the best practices to ably implement the programme.
District Project Facilitator for Machinga, Kingsley Pendame, commended Mwanza District Council for its effective execution of the programme.
“We are particularly impressed with how the communities here are actively involved in the implementation of these projects. The community ownership and commitment we have seen here is remarkable," Pendame said.
One of the programme participants, Elina Mofati, of Khudze Catchment at Inkosi Kanduku Maseko in the district told the visiting delegation that communities learnt a lot in environmental conservation to address land degradation for sustainable land use and crop production.
The CS-EPWP is a World Bank and Multi-Donor Trust funded programme implemented in councils by the National Local Government Finance Committee whose primary objective is to create visible, durable and quality assets within micro-catchments.
