The CEO for NGORA Edward Chileka-Banda has requested NGOs to recommit themselves to the values of compassion, collaboration and justice in order for the sector to thrive. He made the remarks today at Capital Hotel during a breakfast meeting that NGORA organised to update NGOs on developments in the sector.
Chileka-Banda informed the NGOs that this years NGO Day will take place on 16 October at Kamuzu College of Health Sciences (KUHES) in Blantyre and that it will be presided over by His Excellency, the State President, Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera. He added that just like last year, the President will host NGOs to a dinner at Sanjika Palace where the best performing NGOs will be awarded.
The CEO Added that this year, the NGO Day will be preceded by three days of sectoral workshops in the thematic areas of health, education and food security.
“The Day will be preceded by three days of sectoral workshops in the sectors of Health, Education and Food Security. During these meetings NGOs will present their programs, key achievements and challenges. Line Ministries will also provide guidance on alignment to national policy, key priorities and gaps. They will also identify areas of collaboration,” he said.
The CEO further informed the sector that NGORA will work with the Reserve Bank of Malawi to assess how best the country can benefit from the forex that is brought in through NGOs saying these funds could help the country in combating some of the forex challenges it is facing.
The CEO further informed the participants that a Capacity Gap Assessment that was being conducted was finalised and shows that there is a need for financial management and donor relation skills in the sector among others.
Chileka-Banda also explained that he is hopeful that the NGO Fund will play a critical role in addressing some of the challenges unearthed by the Gap Assessment.
“In response to the challenges outlined above, NGORA recently launched the 1 billion Kwacha NGO Fund to help empower the sector through different initiatives. The incentives will build the sectors capacity both at human and technical level to ensure Malawi has a conducive environment for NGOs,” he said.
Speaking at the event, Deputy Director of planning in the Ministry of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare, Geoffrey Chimwala commended NGOs for attending the event, saying that it showed their commitment to work together with the government.
“The government is dedicated to work with NGOs and seeing that their work benefits the communities. It is for this reason that among other things, government is working to review the NGO Policy which is expiring this December,” said he.
He then called upon NGOs to provide input on what they want the new policy to contain in order for it to truly represent their needs.
Currently, NGORA has registered 79 NGOs in 2024 bringing the total of all registered NGOs in the country to 1,061. 474 NGOs have submitted their annual reports and 584 NGOs have renewed their licenses.