Ministry of Local Government, Unity and Culture has reviewed the District Development Fund (DDF) Guidelines which will enhance the delivery of development in local councils.
The ministry’s director of policy and planning Walusungu Kayira said this on Saturday in Zomba during a dissemination meeting with local councils from the Southern Region.
He said the revised guidelines will ensure that projects implemented by local councils are of high quality.
Kayira said government introduced the guidelines to provide the modality for transferring and executing DDF, which is a channel for funding development projects and programmes in local councils.
“The new guidelines address an element of complete packaged projects which the ministry is now focusing on. It also responds to poor compliance to environmental and social safeguards guidelines,” he said.
Kayira said the guidelines have been updated to accommodate prevailing development demands and offer adequate guidance on key areas such as procurement and contact management.
He then congratulated councils that have updated and approved their development frameworks, namely village action plans, social economic profiles and district development plans.
Governance to Enable Service Delivery (Gesd) project coordinator Charles Chunga said the World Bank supported the review of the guidelines as it aligns with the Gesd project mechanism.
He said: “I am pleased to learn that in the 2025/26 draft budget, government has made a modest DDF provision of K7.6 billion to comply with the Gesd financing agreement.
“As per the schedule of the Gesd annual disbursements, this will trigger over $20 million (about K43 billion) to finance investments in local councils.”
Zomba district commissioner Reinghard Chavula said local councils were grateful for the revision of the guidelines.
She said it was pleasing to note that the guidelines are now speaking to other government policies.
