Ministry of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare chief child affairs officer Pauline Simwaka has emphasised the need for district councils to prioritise early childhood development (ECD) initiatives in their budgets.
She said on Saturday in Karonga district during a meeting with ward councillors, legislators, traditional leaders, council secretariat, journalists and civil society organisations on ECD that the council engaged stakeholders after a global summit held in Rwanda which noted gaps at council level.
“Early childhood development is a cornerstone for the Malawi 2063. The vision emphasises integrated ECD services, including health, nutrition and early training to transform the next generation into capable productive citizens,” said Simwaka.
She further said at the moment, government and other stakeholders have just trained 30 percent of caregivers and constructed 4 000 ECD centres out of the required 13 000 centres.
“This year, we requested K36 billion from the 2026 fiscal year budget, but only got K300 million towards ECD activities; hence, the plea to the council to give us at least five percent of the K5 billion CDF for the construction of ECD centres and support caregivers,” said Simwaka.
Karonga district director of education, youth and sports Mercy Mayuni, who represented district commissioner Willard Mwambo, hailed the ministry for the timely meeting.
“Inadequate infrastructure, nutrition, teaching and learning materials and lack of trained ECD caregivers are some of the challenges that need stakeholders’ collaboration,” she said.
However, Paramount Chief Kyungu of Chitipa and Karonga districts bemoaned the absence of the five legislators at the meeting, saying they are key stakeholders in the utilisation of the K5 billion CDFC and budget scrutinisation and passing in Parliament.
Karonga District Council chairperson Atusaye Mwenifumbo pledged to take the message to his fellow elected leaders.
The ministry conducted the meeting with financial support from Unicef.
