Donors ditch CSOs

Donors will not provide direct funding to the 107 civil society organisations (CSOs) and other service providers the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) accredited to conduct voter education ahead of the May 20 2014 Tripartite Elections.

The move has alarmed CSOs, who warn of shoddy electoral outcomes if MEC alone shoulders the burden of civic and voter education.

Nation on Sunday has also established that even with indirect funding, not all the 107 accredited organisations will get it, with some donors saying they do not have money for CSO support and others, limiting funding to 31 NGOs and CBOs.

There is evident foot-dragging in the donor community towards CSOs to manage voter education funds, with diplomatic sources saying this week that donors have lost trust in CSOs on accountability issues.

So far, none of the accredited CSOs has received funding from any donor, a day before voter registration rolls out on Monday, but the British and Irish governments are hopeful of a smooth process.

Irish Embassy second secretary James Sherry indicated that his government has provided 1 million euros [about K440 million] “in support of the elections as part of the UN Development Programme Basket Fund.”

But he was emphatic that “Ireland does not have additional funding to support CSOs in civic and voter education.”

We have also established that the UK Department for International Development (DFiD) has limited its support to only 31 of the 107 accredited voter education providers and this money will be managed by the National Democratic Institute (NDI).

“The UK has committed £6.3 million [about K3.2 billion] to support the electoral cycle approach of the electoral process in Malawi out of which £2.4 million [K1.2 billion] is committed to its civic and voter education [CVE] component being implemented by [NDI],” said Martin Dawson, DFiD Malawi deputy head.

He added: “It may be necessary to point out that although MEC accredited 107 CSOs and other service providers to participate in the CVE activities, it doesn’t necessarily mean that all groups will get funding. There is a limit to available resources and we need to ensure that there is no duplication or concentration of activity, but that there is national coverage.”

Norway, which has again pledged to support the 50-50 gender campaign and the UNDP basket fund, has only pledged support for civic and voter education to faith-based organisations—again not directly.

“We have decided to support faith communities; civic education through Norwegian Church Aid…..We have granted the Norwegian Church Aid an amount of NOK4.8m [about K288 million],” said Ambassador Asbjørn Eidhammer.

In his response to our email, Tom Hull, acting public affairs officer for the US Embassy, was only certain of America deploying a diplomatic team of observers to watch voter registration.

On civic and voter education, he said: “The American Embassy also plans to implement an election support programme. The programme is in design phase but elements will most likely include support to civil society organisations for civic education and support domestic monitoring.”

On the other hand, the European Union (EU) will support civic and voter education only through the just resuscitated National Initiative for Civic Education (Nice), which is now a trust.

Said EU charge d’ affaires James Dolan: “Our funding towards civic and voter education in preparations for the 2014 elections will be channelled through Nice. For the period March 2013 to May 2014, the EU is supporting Nice with over K1.8 billion.”

The EU will also be supporting election preparations through the UNDP managed basket fund with a contribution of 1.5 million euros (K800 million) to the fund, according to Dolan.

Meanwhile, UNDP, managers of the donor basket fund, have emphasised that being accredited by MEC does not guarantee CSOs financing.

“It should be noted, however, that under the code of conduct, accreditation does not provide a right to funding and CSOs will need to apply for funding,” said Ennettie Masa, UNDP’s programme analyst responsible for elections.

CSOs worried

There are worries in the CSO and faith-based community, among them fears that further delays in financing the CSOs chosen by the donor community will compromise the outcome of the tripartite elections.

The Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP), one of the nine faith-based organisations in the Malawi Electoral Support Network (Mesn), is worried that again, donors and other stakeholders will blame CSOs for poor outcomes after the May 2014 elections.

CCJP national secretary Chris Chisoni said: “Will MEC handle all electoral-related issues alone this time around without other key stakeholders? How shall we ensure that all legible voters have been reached out with important messages that would allow them to participate in all electoral processes?”

According to Mesn, an umbrella body of 27 organisations, the majority of people in rural areas have not been reached out with messages on the registration exercise.

“So far, we have been following up on funding opportunities for our members accredited for CVE so that we mobilise citizens for the registration exercise,” said publicist Steve Duwa.

A parallel umbrella body for another group of CSOs, Mtendere Elections Support Network, says its members are anxious and concerned about the delayed funding.

The network’s chairperson Dr Nandin Patel hopes that the EU funding through Nice and the UK funds via NDI are visible openings for possible CSO involvement in civic and voter education.

MEC spokesperson Sangwani Mwafulirwa says the commission is aware of the gap created by the absence of CSOs in voter education, but explained it has devised ways to fill the void.

“The commission has noted the gap because the CSOs do not have funding and has since come up with an intensified civic education campaign, whereby it has been conducting meetings with traditional leaders and their subjects,” said Mwafulirwa.

MEC has pegged the tripartite elections budget at K17.3 billion.