Minister of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare Mary Navicha has challenged civil society organisations (CSOs) to shift towards locally financed projects to cushion themselves against shrinking donor support.
Speaking in Lilongwe yesterday during the opening of the Umunthu Social Impact Forum (USIF), where she also launched the Social Impact Index, the minister said Malawi must accelerate domestic resource mobilisation and home-grown development solutions.
She described the forum, themed ‘Strengthening Malawi’s Social Impact Ecosystem for a Resilient and Self-Sustaining Future’, as a crucial platform bringing together government, CSOs, corporate players and other stakeholders to explore ways of transforming livelihoods using local resources amid declining foreign aid.
Said Navicha: “This is an engagement where stakeholders are brainstorming and generating ideas on how we can transform the lives of our people.
“I would like to appeal to CSOs to introduce new approaches that do not over-rely on donors, especially now when the country is facing economic challenges and some donors are withdrawing support from projects.”
She said the closure of some United States-funded programmes had disrupted operations of several organisations, making the forum an important opportunity to generate locally driven and context-specific solutions.
“Organisations must rethink their funding models and innovate beyond traditional donor dependence,” said the minister.
On the newly launched Social Impact Index, Navicha said the tool will help measure Malawi’s progress towards a more self-sustaining development model and assess the effectiveness of initiatives emerging from the forum.
For his part, Thrive Afrika chief executive officer Wilson Chivhanga said the index would serve as a key accountability and tracking mechanism for stakeholders.
He said: “This index will help us track the progress we are making and ensure that we remain accountable to one another and to the communities we serve.”
The two-day forum focuses on building a sustainable social development model as donors increasingly scale back funding for poverty reduction and health programmes.
Established by Thrive Afrika, the Umunthu Social Impact Forum is Malawi’s national convening platform aimed at promoting collaboration among policymakers, businesses, researchers, development actors and investors.
