The Centre for Social Accountability and Transparency (CSAT) has equipped communities in Mangochi with skills to hold office bearers accountable and demand better service delivery.
Through trainings conducted in Senior Chief Lulanga and Traditional Authority Mambo, Csat focused on the use of the Community Scorecard Tool.
This is a social accountability mechanism that allows citizens to track the performance, progress and quality of public projects.
The organisation’s project field officer, Jacob Phiri, said the tool promotes transparency and helps communities measure service delivery against agreed targets.
“The Scorecard gives citizens a structured way of monitoring development projects and demanding accountability from duty bearers,” he explained.
In Malawi, where public projects are often poorly executed or abandoned, CSAT believes the initiative will strengthen oversight and improve results on the ground.
Participant Afili Kassim described the training as a turning point, saying it would help communities replace protests with constructive engagement.
“We have faced many challenges with poor quality and unfinished projects. Demonstrations have been slow in bringing solutions. The Scorecard will help us engage duty bearers more effectively,” he said.
Kassim, who chairs a youth network, pledged to pass on the knowledge to other youths and work with fellow trainees to engage community leaders in implementing the Scorecard.
The training formed part of the Right to Food in Africa: From Policy to Plate project, which CSAT is implementing with Welthungerhilfe (WHH) and funding from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
