The CEO for NGORA Edward Chileka-Banda has said that coordination among the various departments in the Ministry of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare and NGORA officers at council level will assist in ensuring that the coordination and regulation of NGOs at district level is strengthened.
Chileka-Banda said this when he visited Phalombe, Mulanje, Thyolo, Blantyre, Chikwawa and Nsanje to learn about coordination and regulation of NGOs at council level as well as to enable NGORA and the Ministry of Gender understand how best they can assist the councils with NGO work.
“The purpose of these meetings is to appreciate NGO work at district level and to appreciate how NGOs are being regulated and coordinated. We are also here to strengthen the relationship between councils and NGORA and to find any gaps and opportunities and see how best we can assist the sector as well as the councils.
Nsanje District Commissioner Dominic Mwandira, thanked NGORA for visiting the district, stating that the visit will help the organization have a picture of how state and non-state actors are working in the district.
“Here in Nsanje I can say that there is a good working relationship between the council and NGOs. NGOs assist he council in awareness raising, report and resource sharing, jointly plan and monitor activities and they have been a big part of disaster response,” he said.
He added that there are also a few challenges which include some Nos implementing activities without the knowledge of the council and added that the council requires a training on the NGO Law and policies.
NGORA has district officers across the country except for Likoma who assist the Authority in keeping an NGO database, building the capacity of District Executive Committees (ADCs), facilitating the signing of MOUs between councils and NGOs, monitoring NGO work and facilitating the submission of annual reports among others.