By Memory Kutengule Chatonda

Blantyre, May 10, Mana: District Commissioner for Blantyre, Alex Mdooko, encouraged communities in Blantyre rural to actively participate in the development projects of their areas as the district is in Community Development Month (CDM).

Mdooko made the remarks on Friday when the Blantyre District Council, through the Community Development Office, engaged members of the Area Development Committee (ADC) in Traditional Authority Somba on the CDM.

CDM is part of the public sector reforms in the Ministry of Gender, Community Development, and Social Welfare, which aim to improve the community's capacity to initiate, manage, and sustain community-initiated development programmes on a self-help basis.

Mdooko said the time has come for communities to begin initiating, managing, and sustaining development projects within their localities instead of waiting for government to do the work on their behalf.

“It becomes a bit funny that people expect government to do everything for them, including clearing feeder roads going to their gravesites and other infrastructures,” he added, questioned the logic behind such over-dependency.

Mdooko therefore encouraged communities to embrace the spirit of self-help on top of taking ownership of development projects in their respective areas to turn things around.

“We empower communities to define their development agenda and take charge of their destiny,” he said.

Community Development Officer for Blantyre Joseph Gama stated that during the CDM, communities were expected to implement various projects, including the construction and rehabilitation of diverse infrastructure, harnessing the natural forest regeneration, and rehabilitating public and private roads.

“By the end of this year, we plan to implement 133 projects under the initiative,” the District Commissioner added

Traditional Authority Somba, on the other hand, encouraged his subjects to participate fully in various self-help projects to develop the area.

He disclosed that bylaws have been initiated to punish those who will fail to participate in development projects on a self-help basis.

Recently, according to authorities, the spirit of self-help among some community members has dwindled due to, among other things, high dependency on handouts and also low capacity of community leaders to hold public service providers accountable.

The month of May is therefore designated to intensify community development through self-help initiatives.