The CEO for NGORA has met with development partners on NGO Regulations which are currently being reviewed. The meeting which was organized by the UN Resident Coordinator was held at the Coordinators office in Lilongwe.
Speaking when she opened the meeting, Mickelle Hughes Murphy from the Coordinators office said the meeting was held in order to discuss submissions on NGO Regulations that were made from the UN as well as the joint submission from development partners and to get feedback from NGORA.
“We are grateful for the constructive spirit of engagement that NGORA has taken in the development of these regulations. We hope for continued dialogue as we go forward,” she said.
Speaking on behalf of all the development partners, Andrew Bowden from the British High Commission said that he was thankful to NGORA for facilitating dialogue on the regulations.
“We all are on the same page on what Malawi wants to achieve with the law and through the regulations. Which is to support a vibrant and free civic space where NGOs are free to assemble and express their opinions to the benefit of all Malawians. The end goal is to the benefit of Malawians who are the key beneficiaries in all of this.
We recognize also that there is a benefit between those rights and ensuring accountability of organisations as well. It is therefore important that this is a locally owned process and that the voices of civil society are brought out, and I have no doubt that this is happening” he said.
He added that there were some concerns on the regulations that have been developed in terms of excessive government regulation on issues such as registration, MOUs with government Ministry’s, legal grounds for refusing registration, politicking and electioneering and partnerships of local and international NGOs.
In his remarks NGORA CEO said that he was also grateful for the opportunity to meet with the development partners to present a picture of where NGORA is coming from, the current status and the direction it is heading on regulations.
“Our goal is to have a NGORA that is an anchor in Africa. One where others can come to learn good practices and that is why we are forging on this consultative path in the development of the regulations.
The regulations process started in August 2022 where NGORA isolated contentious issues in the Act which included politicking, partnerships and offenses. We took note of the cry that had come in after the law was passed and called for dialogue,” he said
He then stated that there is a core team that is looking at the input into regulations comprising of Ministries of Justice and Gender, CONGOMA, an International Consultant and NGORA.
The CEO then informed the meeting that the second draft of the regulations will be shared with NGOs through CONGOMA, and will be validated at CONGOMAs annual general meeting before submission to the NGORA board and to the Ministry of Gender, for further submission to the Ministry of Justice.
The Meeting had in attendance representatives from the UN, USAID, FCDO, EU, Iceland, Norway and the World Bank.