By George Mponda

Karonga, January 14, Mana: Local structures under the Climate Smart Enhanced Public Works Programme (CS-EPWP) in Karonga have been advised to make case management their core function inorder for the programme to achieve its objectives of promoting sustainable livelihoods and enhancing community resilience to climate change.

National Local Government Finance Commitee (NLGFC) E-payment Specialist Jane Chidengu said this Monday during a training on Case Management Protocols for Karonga District Environment Sub Committee (DESC) members and Catchment Management Committees, Foremen and Extension Workers under the CS-EPWP from Nyanja catchment in Traditional Authority Kyungu.

"Karonga uses the E-payment method whereby participants receive their wages in their TNM mobile wallet; sometimes there are cases where some do not receive, which is where case management comes in to sort things out and ensure the programme runs without any hurdles," said Chidengu.

"We are orientating district council and catchment officials to manage cases to do with participant replacements when a beneficiary has moved out of the programme and also payment claims in case of those participants who will not be able to get their money instantly," she added.

Chidengu explained that case management guidelines are helpful because they empower beneficiaries to follow proper procedures when reporting cases which makes them work diligently under the programme when their grievances are addressed on time.

On his part, District Programme Facilitator for Karonga, Austin Kafere, said they encounter cases of unpaid wages where some participants have mismatches between their e-wallet name and ID name.

"So if the names are different, the system rejects the payment which is why some participants do not receive their wages.

“And sometimes the forepersons in the catchments tend to replace the names of the participants with those who are not eligible without seeking advice from the council and they later claim wages, so we are assured with this training that these issues will be ironed out," said Kafere.

A foreman from Nyanja Catchment, Moses Mwalweni, said that when one is empowered, one knows what to do at what point.

"The training will prevent boycotting of work, as we have had such cases where some beneficiaries drop out due to unpaid wages," Mwalweni said.