Some Concerned Citizens from Traditional Authorities (TAs) Kunthembwe, Nsomba, and Machinjiri in Blantyre have asked government to give more attention and resources to Early Childhood Development (ECD) program.
The Citizens, under ECD Financing Community Champions Project supported by the ECD Coalition with funding from OSISA, made the demands through a petition which was delivered to Blantyre District and City Councils respectively.
The group was led by social activist Henderson Mhango who is board member for Coalition of Early Childhood Development and also the Executive Director for Youth Coordinating Agency in Development (YOCADE).
Among others, in the 3 paged petition which the publication has seen, the concerned citizens have noted that the delivery of ECD services in Blantyre and many other districts in Malawi is very poor due to under-funding.
“A lot of challenges have been noted through consultative meetings with key stakeholders within the districts and communities we represent and among of them are Poor ECD infrastructures (CBCC), untrained caregivers, Few Professional motivated caregivers, Inadequate Learning and Playing Materials..” reads the petition in part
The petition further highlighted that few Professional motivated caregivers, Inadequate Learning and Playing Materials, Low participation of community members, Low enrollment of children in ECD centers and Low access to ECD services as some of the challenges.
In addition, disasters like COVID 19, Cyclone Freddy and Anna including cholera worsened the situation whereby up to now some ECD center blocks that were damaged by cyclone are not yet rehabilitated compared to primary school blocks that also got affected.
“With this background, we are asking government through your office the district commissioner and Chief Executive Officer for City to act on these issues to make sure that children in Blantyre are also accessing quality ECD services to develop their full potential,” said the concerned citizens in the petition.
The citizens has since recommended the capacity building training to all care givers, Provision of Incentives to Boost Caregiver Motivation, facilitating the allocation of 5% of constituency development fund (CDF) towards ECD services, allocation of part of a part of Council’s Revenue to ECD Initiatives and engaging the Private Sector in ECD Promotion.
“We hope our petition will be treated as one of the priority issues in the Blantyre city and district councils and that some of the results we will see them soon. Is our wish to see every eligible child in Blantyre is receiving quality ECD services for them to develop their full potential.”
Speaking in an interview with the media after receiving the Petition on Friday Deputy Director for Health at Blantyre City Council, Samudeni Seunda assured the concerned citizens to deliver the petition to relevant authorities.
Samudeni also acknowledged the challenges that the ECD centres are facing in the city but was quick to point out that appropriate action will be taken to address the challenges as soon possible.
Statistically, Blantyre has 1,150 ECD centers with 3,460 caregivers and out of these caregivers only 100 caregivers (mentors) are receiving honorarium from government and only 249 received a basic training of ECD.
In Blantyre, according to 2018 Population and Housing Census, 42, 112 children are receiving ECD services against 124, 079 children of the age range of 0 to 8 years.
