By Paul Madise
Lilongwe, January 13, Mana: Minister of Local Government, Unity and Culture Richard Chimwendo is on January 14th set to preside over the grant signing ceremony of a five-yearUS240 million Dollars Regional Climate Resilience Program (RCRP 2) between his Ministry and local authorities to improve resilience to water-related climate shocks in the country.
The Ministry has disclosed this earlier statement signed by Richard Hara Secretary for Local Government, Unity and Culture noting that the ceremony will take place under a new Malawi Government program called RCRP 2, where Chimwendo is also expected to present cheques to 28 qualifying district councils providing them with financial through Performance-Based Grants (PBGs) under the district-level infrastructure sub-components.
According to the statement, RCRP grants are aligned to Governance to Enable Service Delivery Project (GESD) principles, specifically, the use of Local Authorities Performance Assessment (LAPA) is designed to assess the performance of Local Authorities (LAs) in several areas which among others include management of disasters.
“Local authorities will receive funds commensurate to their LAPA score,” the statement indicates. “The PBG component aims to incentivize and motivate efficiency, equity and accountability in LAs through service delivery responsibilities.”
After the five-year project implementation plan, RCRP is expecting households in selected basins to have reduced vulnerability to climate shock, Land areas with increased flood protection and catchment conservation, communities that have access to Early Action(EAs) and social protection systems supported through the project, a people that benefit from restored infrastructure damaged by Tropical Cyclone Freddy and other eligible emergencies and regional collaboration strengthened on water-related climate challenges.
Confirming the development, RCRP Deputy Project Coordinator Flemmings Nyirenda also disclosed that the representation cheques to 28 qualifying district councils range from MWK70 million and higher to MWK100 plus billion depending on councils.
“The total amount of money going to district councils is 70 million US Dollars for a five-year program, 240 US Dollars for the whole program, and this year we are disbursing 10 million US Dollar which these districts are sharing for intergovernmental fiscal transport formula to build resilience communities to climate change,” he added.
Reacting to the matter, Public Relation Officer for the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA), Chipiliro Khamula has expressed gratification in welcoming the development stating that the department is pleased further noting that these are deliberate efforts aimed at building resilience of communities to water-related climate shocks.
“This will greatly assist in reducing losses and damages that emanate from flood-related climate shocks,” he emphasized.
The program is being implemented collaboratively by Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, Ministry of Transport and Public Works, Roads Authority, Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA), Ministry of Lands, Ministry of Local Government, Unity and Culture, National Governance Finance Committee, Ministry of water and Sanitation, the Local Authorities and the African Union among other stakeholders.
