By Loness Gwazanga, Mana
As the first pilot phase of the Enhanced Public Works Programme (EPWP) comes to an end, Blantyre District Council has embarked on an on-job training in order to ensure perfection in the coming phase.
The council’s Director of Planning Tamanya Harawa said on Wednesday that with support from GIZ, the trainings will take place in all the district’s catchments which are Mlombozi, Mombo, Dzunga, Chilambalale and Kajombo.
While describing the first phase of the pilot project as successful, Harawa said some catchments needed some guidance so that they perform well in the upcoming phase just like others.
“Generally, we have done well, of course with some catchments doing extremely well while others had some few challenges that need to be addressed. Some achievements include established nurseries, constructed check dams and swales, road reshaping and pitting,” said Harawa.
He, however, described inadequate supervision by frontline workers as well as difficulties in conducting live monitoring as some of the major challenges the phase faced, hence applauded GIZ for the timely support.
Dzunga Catchment chairperson Potani Ziyambeni said the on-job training was a significant catalyst in making sure that the project becomes a success.
He then urged the council to continue monitoring the catchment’s activities so that the whole purpose of the project is fulfilled.
Said Ziyambeni; “Although we managed to conduct most of the activities on our own, we felt we lacked some expertise to do our work perfectly. But with the training, we hope to do better in the second phase so that area is totally transformed”.
Group Village head Kammata of Mombo Catchment said she would urge her subject to wholeheartedly work on the project, which in turn will provide long term benefits to them.
She additionally said she would encourage community members who are not part of the beneficiaries of the project to work voluntarily as the fruits of the project will benefit everyone.
EPWP is a natural resources World Bank funded project through Malawi Government that aims at creating quality and sustainable community assets in a holistic catchment management approach, with much emphasis on land resource conservation sub projects.
Apart from Blantyre district, the pilot phase of the EPWP started in September this year which will run for a period of nine months in the districts of Chitipa, Nkhotakota, Kasungu, Chiradzulu as well as Phalombe among the ten selected ones. (MANA)
