MALAWI LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY AND PERFORMANCE
FIRST QUARTERLY REPORT FISCAL YEAR 2018 October 2017 to December 2017 Prepared by DAI
Malawi LGAP Quarterly Report FY2018, Quarter 1 | 1
MALAWI LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY AND PERFORMANCE (LGAP)
Quarterly Report First Quarter - Fiscal Year 2018 October 2017 – December 2017
Program Title: Malawi Local Government Accountability and Performance (LGAP) Contract Number: AID-OAA-I-14-00061/AID-612-TO-16-00004 Sponsoring USAID Office: USAID/Malawi Contractor: DAI Date of Publication: January 31, 2018
On the cover: Community members in Zomba District prepare their Village Action Plan (VAP) report out. Photo credit: Jessica Benton Cooney
CONTENTS
ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ...... IV EXECUTIVE SUMMARY...... 6 Overall ObJective ...... 7 Program Strategy ...... 8 PART I: ACHIEVEMENTS IN KEY RESULT AREAS ...... 10 Result Area 1: Increasing Local Government Performance and Transparency ...... 10 R1.1 District Development Planning, Budgeting, and Implementation Process ...... 11 Sub-Result 1.2 Accountability, PFM, and Oversight of Public Expenditures Improved ...... 16 Sub-Result 1.3: Capacity of Councilors to Serve as Effective Representatives Improved ...... 17 Sub-Result 1.4: Own-Source Revenue and Local Economic Development Increased ...... 19 Sub-Result 1.5: USAID Activities are Better Integrated in District Planning and Budgeting ...... 20 Result Area 2: Demand for Accountable Government Strengthened at the Local Level ...... 21 Sub-Result 2.1: Citizen Participation in Local Government Planning and Policy Development Increased 21 Sub-Result 2.2: Social Accountability and Transparency of Public Expenditure Management and Service Delivery Improved ...... 23 Sub-Result 2.3: USAID Support is Better Integrated in Social Accountability Activities ...... 25 Result Area 3: Decentralization Policy Environment and Systems Improved – Policy Interface ...... 25 Sub-Result 3.1: Select Policies and Legal Reforms Related to Decentralization Supported ...... 26 Sub-Result 3.2: Public Financial Management Systems Improved ...... 29 Sub-Result 3.3: Human Resources and Key Management Systems Improved ...... 30 Sub-result 3.4 USAID Sectoral Support for Policy Reforms Coordinated, Reinforcing Decentralization .. 31 Integration ...... 31 USAID IP-to-IP Integration ...... 32 Construction Plans for the Next Quarter ...... 32 Lessons Learned, Problems Encountered and Proposed Remedial Actions ...... 33 Success Stories ...... 33 PART II: RELEVANT ACTIVITIES BY SECTOR ...... 34 Education ...... 34 Health ...... 35 Agriculture ...... 36 PART III: PROGRESS BY INDICATOR AND MONITORING AND EVALUATION ... 37 Activity Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Plan ...... 37 Monitoring and Evaluation ...... 37 Collaboration, Learning and Adaptive Management (CLA) Strategy ...... 37 Monitoring and Evaluation Plan for the Council with MLGRD ...... 38 PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION ...... 46 STTA in the Reporting Period ...... 46 Staffing ...... 46 ANNEX 1: SELECTED CASES DEMONSTRATING PROGRESS IN PFM AT THE DISTRICT LEVEL ...... 50 ANNEX 2: SUCCESS STORY ...... 55
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ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ADC Area Development Committee AEC Area Executive Committee CDCS Country Development Cooperation Strategy CDF Constituency Development Fund COP Chief of Party COR USAID Contracting Officer’s Representative CPS Citizen Perception Survey CBO Community-Based Organization CLA Collaborative Learning and Adaptive CSO Civil Society Organization DADO District Agriculture Development Officer DC District Commissioner DCOP Deputy Chief of Party DDB District Data Bank DDP District Development Plans DDPF District Development Planning Framework DDPS District Development Planning System DEC District Executive Committee DEM District Education Manager DHO District Health Officer DHRMD Department of Human Resource Management and Development DNCC District Nutrition Coordinating Committee DMECC District Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinating Committee DOF Director of Finance DPD Director of Planning and Development EPAs Extension Planning Areas EP&D Department of Economic Planning and Development EWs Establishment Warrants FISP Fertilizer Input Subsidy Programme FY Fiscal Year GIS Geographical Information System GOM Government of Malawi GUC Grants under Contract HACs Health Advisory Committee HR Human Resources HRM Human Resources Management HRMIS Human Resources Management Information Systems HAS Health Assistant Surveillance ICT Information and Communications Technology IFMIS Information Finance Management Integrated System KPA Key Performance Area LAPA Local Authority Performance Assessment LASCOM Local Authority Service Commission LDF Local Development Fund LGA Local Government Accountability LGSC Local Government Service Committee MALGA Malawi Local Government Association M&E Monitoring and Evaluation ME&L Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning MGDS 111 Malawi Growth and Development Strategy 111 MISA Media Institute of Southern Africa MJCA Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs
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MLGRD Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development MP Member of Parliament MSCE Malawi School Certificate of Education NAO National Audit Office NGO Non-Governmental Organization NICE National Initiative for Civic Education NORC National Opinion Research Center NLGFC National Local Government Finance Committee OPC Office of the President and Cabinet ORT Other Recurrent Transactions PAC Public Affairs Committee PEA Political Economy Analysis PFM Public Financial Management PMEP Performance Management and Evaluation Plan PIRS Performance Indicator Reference Sheet PTA Parent-Teacher Association SDGs Sustainable Development Goals SEP Social Economic Profile SMS Short Message Service STTA Short-Term Technical Assistance TA Traditional Authority TAMIS Technical Administrative Management Information System TD-PFMA Technical Director for Public Financial Management and Accountability TORS Terms of Reference USAID United States Agency for International Development VDC Village Development Committee
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report presents progress made on the Local Government Accountability and Performance Program (LGAP) as planned in the Annual Work Plan for its second year of implementation, FY2017/ 2018. It highlights activities conducted toward the outcomes and outputs, as well as toward achieving the targets. The report also makes a deliberate effort to capture and present challenges in implementation and the lessons learned as they inform program priorities and adjustments on the program to achieve its objectives moving forward. During the first quarter, LGAP concluded several interventions. Under Result Area 1, the project supported the completion of District Socio Economic Profiles (SEPs) building on the progress made in Year 1. LGAP also extensively supported the development of Village Action Plans (VAP) reaching 1,934 VDCs, 117 Area Executive Committees (AECs), and 117 Area Development Committees (ADCs) in all eight target districts. The Village Action Planning process enhanced the participation of more than 158,889 citizens (96,473 women, 14 persons with disabilities, 4,932 youths, and 62,116 men) in local development planning and having a voice in the way district priorities should be set for the next five years. To set the stage for a sustainable, locally driven process, LGAP supported the training of 48 District Training Teams (DTTs) from the eight LGAP districts to equip them with skills for training AEC and ADC members on the VAP process. LGAP facilitated an integrated cross-sector approach to the consultative process, including organizing the participation of other USAID partner projects including SANE, MERIT, NJIRA, and ONSE. Under Result Area 2, the project carried out a rigorous communication campaign of broad civic education on the importance of decentralization; supporting involvement and buy-in of key stakeholders in decentralization; and promoting civic participation through Town Hall meetings reaching more than 4 million Malawians.1 Through the VAP process, the project facilitated the demand side of the dialogue, wherein communities engaged with government representatives and extension workers in analyzing the local context and proposing solutions to development issues. LGAP also worked with CSOs to understand their roles in the districts, orienting them on the grant-making facility and calling for their proposals. Under Result Area 3, LGAP continued to support government Key Statistics for the coordination mechanisms for mobilizing national level stakeholders quarter: to implement the decentralization policy. In particular, the project facilitated the head count exercise in all its districts with the goal 158,889 – Citizens of calculating the numbers of actual staff that are available at local engaged in the village action government level. This count is necessary to support the filling in planning process of vacancies through staff rationalization and integration processes, 4,752,338 – Number of and to continue LGAP’s efforts to support the Government of Malawians estimated to have Malawi (GOM) in addressing the 2016/2017 Audit report finding listened to the ZiliPati?? that close to 4.4 billion kwacha ($6 million) was lost due to ghost Program on radio and workers. television In addition, LGAP continued to strengthen public financial Number of vendor management at the council level through mentoring and coaching 22 – activities. In particular, the project supported the process of market committees configuring Information Finance Management Integrated System supported to promote (IFMIS) to track budgets at the level that revenues are received (by vendor advocacy
1 Estimated listenership based on Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) data of coverage of national and community radios at airing times
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market) as opposed to the prevailing practice of only inputting aggregates of market revenues. The new system of vouchers and financial statements that LGAP has established with the councils has led to concrete improvements in accuracy, such as a reduction in audit queries on missing vouchers, and in the councils’ increased efficiency in terms of the time of addressing audit queries. LGAP also facilitated an Inter-district Learning and Sharing Forum for the five districts in the Southern Region, generating many learning and action plans to improve Public Financial Management (PFM) at the local level.
LGAP is a five-year (2016 -2021) United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and UK Department for International Development (DFID) funded activity designed to support the Government of Malawi (GOM) in the implementation of the National Decentralization Policy and to strengthen local governance. LGAP works on both the supply and demand side, working with local governments to strengthen governance, accountability, and service delivery on one hand, and also with non-state actors to ensure citizen voice, participation, and visibility; and in the policy environment to allow for interaction where there may be gaps. The program is implemented in tandem with major GOM reforms including devolution of the national development budget, administrative decentralization, reviews of the Local Government Act (LGA) and the Chiefs Act, and elevating the status of district-led development. LGAP is implemented in the eight districts, six districts that had been selected by the GOM and USAID as the pilots for the public sector reforms (M’mbelwa, Kasungu, Zomba, Mulanje, Lilongwe Rural, and Blantyre) plus Balaka and Machinga. The latter two are priority districts for USAID in Malawi, according to the Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS). USAID/Malawi has, in line with its new focus on district-led development, slated LGAP as the vehicle for improving sectoral approaches and service delivery through integration of democracy and governance concepts of accountability, representation, and policy reform. As a result, LGAP’s significant integration component focuses on building synergies with USAID sector-supporting implementing partners. The program was awarded to DAI in August 2016, in the amount of US$23 million over the 5-year period.
OVERALL OBJECTIVE The overall objective of LGAP is to “support local government to effectively, efficiently, and democratically fulfil its mandate of providing public services and representing citizen interests.” The program has three Key Result Areas, which are further explained and guided by targeted sub- result areas, as follows: Result 1: Local government performance and transparency increased – supply side. 1.1 District development planning, budgeting, and implementation processes improved; 1.2 Accountability, PFM, and oversight of public expenditures improved; 1.3 Capacity of councilors to serve as effective representatives improved; 1.4 Own-source revenue and local economic development increased; and 1.5 USAID activities better integrated in district planning and budgeting. Result 2: Demand for accountable government strengthened at the local level – demand side. 2.1 Citizen participation in local government planning and policy development increased;
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2.2 Social accountability and transparency of public expenditure management and service delivery improved; and 2.3 USAID support better integrated in social accountability activities. Result 3: Decentralization policy environment and systems improved – policy interface. 3.1 Select policies and legal reforms related to decentralization supported; 3.2 Public financial management systems improved; 3.3 Human resources and key management systems improved; and 3.4 USAID sectoral support for policy reforms coordinated, reinforcing decentralization.
PROGRAM STRATEGY LGAP takes a multi-dimensional approach to achieving the overall project goal, to improve quality of life for Malawians through strengthened local government: first, addressing challenges both from the supply and demand sides and, second, integrating activities with the national decentralization process and with sectors including health, education, and agriculture. On the supply side, LGAP supports the District Councils in advancing their systems’ functionality and improving service delivery coordination and management. On the demand side, LGAP supports civil society and communities to hold the District Councils accountable to delivery as anticipated through participatory planning and budgeting processes. To remove potential bottlenecks at the District Councils as they attempt to meet communities’ expectations, LGAP invests in supporting the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development and other central government institutions such as the National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC), the Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Development (MoFEP&D), the Department of Human Resource Management and Development (DHRMD) in the Office of the President and Cabinet, the Local Government Service Commission (LGSC), and the Malawi Local Government Association (MALGA) to improve the policy and regulatory framework for local governance and effective decentralization. Figure 1: LGAP’s Project Implementation Hypothesis
Development and economic growth will •If district begin to be registered governments are Improved more capable •Then services will be quality of life accountable and delivered more for Malawians transparent effectively in line with community And the policy needs environment is improved
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LGAP takes an approach of supporting the institutions of central government to improve the policy environment for districts to become more capable, accountable, and transparent for their communities, resulting in improved service delivery. While staying focused on the above, LGAP seeks to integrate and rationalize USAID’s 3Cs approach – collaboration, coordination, and co-location – at the district level. This report is divided into three parts. Part I discusses achievements and activities by result area. Part II lists results attribution by sector, and Part III describes progress against the results framework. The report details the activities and accomplishments by result area and notes any challenges. It lastly discusses achievement against planned indicators.
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PART I: ACHIEVEMENTS IN KEY RESULT AREAS
RESULT AREA 1: INCREASING LOCAL GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE AND TRANSPARENCY Table 1: Result Area 1 Indicator Performance No. Performance Indicator FY 2018 FY 2018 Q1 Target Actual R1.1 Own-source revenue as a percentage of total district budget 7.8% 6.3% R1.2 100% 0 Percent of district budget entities’ publishing budgets, audits, and reports to share budget performance (Custom) R1.3 3 0 Number of sub national entities receiving USG assistance demonstrating improved performance (Custom) R1.4 20 10 Number of consensus-building forums (multi-party, civil/security sector, and/or civil/political) held with USG Assistance (DR.3.1-1) R1.5 Number of entities receiving capacity building assistance during the reporting 359 2,189 period (Custom) R1.6 Number of technical activities jointly designed with cross sector partners 38 32 (Custom)
The Local Government Act (LGA) of 1998 mandates Local Councils to govern and provide social economic services to the communities. The eight District Councils of Kasungu, Balaka, Machinga, Zomba, Blantyre, M’mbelwa, Lilongwe, and Mulanje have been unable to carry out this mandate largely because a number of factors constrain them, including the absence of the District Development Plans (DDPs). The LGA empowers the councils to formulate the DDPs with the goal of guiding development in the districts. The DDPs are planning and policy documents that guide and coordinate investment and development in the districts. DDPs, which are developed and approved by the councils, operationalize the provisions of the National Planning documents such as the Malawi Vision 2020, and the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS III). In the reporting period, LGAP in collaboration with MLGRD and the District Councils, has accomplished substantial progress under Result Area 1. The project embarked on: 1) finalization of the Socio-Economic Profiles (SEPs); 2) training of the District Training Teams (DTTs); 3) training of Area Executive Committee (AEC) members; 4) training of Area Development Committee (ADC) members; 5) orienting VAP resource persons; and 6) facilitating VDC and ADC consultation meetings to develop their VAPs. The DDP process is a major catalyst for planning, accountability, transparency, participation and delivery of services. It presents an opportunity for a whole district to come together – to debate and agree on priorities – using the situational analysis of the SEP. The process includes the elected officials, chiefs, MPs, technical staff of council, the citizens, and development partners working in the area. Additionally, LGAP continued efforts to help districts maximize their local revenue base through growing their own-source revenue. Activities to support districts to utilize the financial accounting system, IFMIS, continued alongside efforts to improve tax collection in markets. Taken together, this means districts will have more revenue to support better-planned service delivery in the councils.
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R1.1 District Development Planning, Budgeting, and Implementation Process Train Area Executive Committees (AECs) and Area Development Committee (ADCs) in VAP Process LGAP first supported the formulation of a training manual from the MLGRD’s Village Action Planning Handbook. Using this as a guide, LGAP, together with the DTTs, supported training facilitators on the VAP process. LGAP then supplemented this training of VAP facilitators by hands-on technical mentoring during the VAP process. In the past, central and local governments have not sufficiently guided VDCs and ADCs regarding planning for transformative development initiatives, and consequently plans have been wish lists that were not achievable or owned by anyone. LGAP supported the training of 48 District Training Teams (DTTs) from the eight LGAP districts to equip them with skills for training AEC and ADC members on the VAP process. The selected DTT members in turn led teams of facilitators in their respective councils in orienting AEC members on how to facilitate the VAP process. Equipped with the various planning tools, AEC and ADC members engaged their respective VDCs to identify and prioritize development issues, which formed the basis of the Village Action Plans. Across the eight councils, LGAP oriented a total of 117 AEC members and 117 ADC members. Nsanama AEC Chairperson Speaks on LGAP’s Value-Add to the District Planning Process Brian Ali Banda became chairperson of Nsanama AEC, which covers four VDCs, two months ago. Previously, he was a chairperson of Nkula. Banda has been in the system long enough to have participated in the previous planning cycle at district level. “Through LGAP support, members of our AEC here in Nsanama on the VAP process who in turn sensitized their respective communities on the objectives of VAP in the context of development,” he explained. The AEC members sensitized communities and took them through social mapping as well as problem tree analysis. The members have met with VDCs identifying development interventions against problems, a step that provided a basis for formulating interventions. At the time of this interview, the AEC was consolidating interventions from all VDCs using a pairwise ranking. Reflecting on this year’s planning process, Banda noted that once development interventions are approved at the council, there is need to provide feedback to the communities through the VDC before implementation. “The planning process at the district level has been cutting corners in the past. This current process has been comprehensive, allowing for extensive participation. All stages of the planning process have been followed,” he reiterated. The general experience of the AEC in Nsanama was that while communities and ADC/AEC members are receptive to the planning process, not everyone is familiar with the planning tools. They therefore said they need a matrix/template that consolidates the prioritized development interventions at Traditional Authority (TA) level and a profile page for the whole TA as well as the current page per VDC. This is for purposes of tracking development. At the ADC level, the copy is a reference for taking up issues with the DEC (District Executive Committee). LGAP will provide this feedback to the council and recommend that councils help ADCs better track the progress of the Area Development Plans. In order to improve the district development planning, budgeting, and projects implementation, LGAP supported training for AEC and ADC members in all the eight LGAP districts. The aim of this support was to enhance district councils’ mandate of governing and providing social economic services to communities. Through this support, councils were empowered to formulate District Development Plans (DDP) as a tool for guiding development projects in the targeted districts. The support also ensured that planning was participatory by providing the opportunity for local people to be involved in the development process.
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VDC Consultation Meetings to Develop their VAPs A Village Action Plan (VAP) is a community’s collective agreement on actions they need to undertake to resolve identified problems and challenges. It describes what the community wants to accomplish, what activities are required during a specified timeline and what resources they need to be successful. The VAP is developed through problem identification and analysis; identification of solutions by the community themselves; and then prioritization of solutions and reaching a consensus. Following the orientation of AEC and ADC members in the eight councils, LGAP provided Figure 1: Villagers employ participatory mapping technical backstopping support to local councils techniques to identify existing community resources for ensuring quality standards in the facilitation of the VAPs. LGAP oriented 20 resource persons on the VAP process to provide backstopping support to facilitation of VAPs for VDCs. The resource person’s terms of reference focused on ensuring that: • Communities are motivated to envision their lives in the broader context of development as opposed to short-term one-off interventions. • VAP process steps are comprehensively followed and not just problem identification and prioritization. • An exhaustive and comprehensive analysis is developed of issues with communities. • Supplement facilitation where necessary, ensuring that communities are consistently engaged and triggered to think beyond their status quo. • Proper documentation of input from communities is provided.
Specific deliverables on their role included highlighting the profile of the VDCs; an overview of the process used; a summary of issues prioritized; and highlights of insights, lessons, and recommendations for possible mentoring of the community structures toward improving their functionality. Highlights from LGAP’s backstopping support of the VAP process (through resource persons) ▪ Insights into the Group Village Profile where issues of population, governance, social and economic characteristics, environment, and livelihood have been discussed and documented. ▪ Social economic characteristics – districts are not homogenous. Hence, there is a need to invest in planning that is driven and informed by the reality of the grassroots. ▪ Communities have confidence in the reforms that are taking place. Involving them in the VAP process is an example. They are looking forward to seeing a lot of changes taking place in their areas in terms of developments. ▪ Some VDC members were initially reluctant to participate because the same VAP process has been conducted in the previous years with few developments in their area. They feel cheated and they assume that the district officials are misusing funds meant for their developmental interventions in their respective areas. ▪ Some AECs were very unusual and cooperative in such a way that they were able to provide information when requested to do so even though they were not part of the facilitating team.
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▪ Some facilitators were committed beyond expectation. Chisoni VDC in TA Mkumbila in Zomba’s Lake Chilwa area was considered too hard to reach and its VAP was initially pended by the District. Instead, the two facilitators volunteered themselves to visit the area and conduct the VAP Process. ▪ Lines of conflicts and working synergies were seen amongst political actors (MPs, councillors) and local structures (VDCs, ADCs) as well as disconnectedness between the sector teams at the council and the AEC highlighted. • In some ADCs there is good collaboration between the political leaders (members of parliament and councillors) and community structures (VDCs and ADCs). As such, in those ADCs and VDCs ,coordination in development works is present. • Leaders, especially councillors, actively contributed during the process as they participated in some of the VDCs VAP process. They were able to guide the VDC members on identifying relevant interventions during the exercise. This motivated the VDC members to be committed to the process and therefore be receptive. ▪ There is a need for continued mentoring of the VDCs and ADCs regarding the broad perspective of development – both software and hardware. Until they were enlightened through the VAP facilitation, communities tended to perceive development as boreholes and school blocks only. ▪ There must be well laid out mechanisms for mutual monitoring of implementation of the projects as laid down in the District Development Plan. ▪ After the community has developed their plans and submitted them, there is need to update them on what is happening at each subsequent stage. This will help to win confidence.
LGAP’s interventions added value to the effectiveness and reach of the local development process in the following ways: ▪ Districts became aware of existing, though ungazetted, VDCs that they had not previously included in the process. The districts and LGAP devised appropriate solutions to ensure their participation and inclusion. ▪ All participants gained a renewed understanding and commitment to the VAP process. ▪ Community development assistants emerged to be critical resources in the community engagement over the VAP process. LGAP will continue to use them as key change agents in the ongoing capacity enhancement of ADCs and AECs. ▪ Higher governance structures gained a clear appreciation of the centrality of the role and mandate of the VDC in the planning process.
Finally, LGAP noted the following challenges that MLGRD needs to address in future iterations of the VAP: ▪ While communities and ADC/AEC members were receptive to the planning process, not everyone was familiar with the planning tools. ▪ Some AECs/communities are still stuck on old approaches of listing initiatives that are not informed by the social mapping. Nkoola AEC in Machinga District insisted on enlisting boreholes even though there were already 32 water points on their map, enough for the population. ▪ Facilitating the VAP at VDC is time consuming. The manual is a good guide, but being on the ground requires a significant investment of time.
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▪ Crafting initiatives requires technical skills, especially when it touches on multiple sectors.
Figure 2: Preference Ranking Back-to-Back with Pairwise Ranking in Machinga After the successful orientation of AEC members on the VAP process, the District Development Team (DDT) AEC, DDP consultants, resources persons, and development partners were able to facilitate VAPs for their respective areas. During the village meetings, consultations on village needs were conducted, baseline data for the villages was collected, and resource maps for the village development committees were drawn to indicate community assets. Participants also developed Village Planning Framework and Identification of projects. Groups conducted problem tree analysis and objective tree analysis as well as using PRA tools like preference and pairwise ranking to prioritize problems at the VDC level. During the meetings, participants debated on the socio-economic status of their respective villages and came up with both a shared vision of required development projects and action plans on how they can develop their respective villages. For example, the VDC teams listed developments already existing in their communities so that they could see gaps and easily map the way forward. AEC and ADC members, who were fully trained on VAP development processes, provided guidance and facilitated development of VAPs. It was also interesting to note that the community members were very willing to make in-kind contributions toward the development of their VAPs. For instance, community members at Emvuyeni in the Mtwalo area of M’mbelwa District contributed food, firewood, pots, and a workforce to prepare meals for the VDC members participating in the VAP formulation. During the consultative meetings, the team emphasized that while physical structures such as school blocks, roads, bridges, and health care centers are essential components for development, it is equally important to include non- infrastructure issues in their VAPs, such as human resource needs. Participants noted that not all development initiatives would require external funding from either government or non- governmental organizations. Facilitators empowered VDCs to come up with means on how they could mobilize locally available Figure 3: Food preparation in resources in order to realize their development aspirations in progress by community members at Emvuyeni in Mtwalo area in support the next five years. of VAP formulation
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Figure 4: Bwengu and Nkapita VDCs identifying their needs Cumulatively, at the end of the VAP process, the teams consulted about 158,589 villagers and 1,934 development committees in all the eight LGAP supported districts as indicated in Table 2. Table 2: VAP Consultation Participation by District No. of No. of No. of No. of No. of Males No. of Youths VDCs Females Disabled Villagers District Consulted Consulted Consulted Consulted Consulted Consulted Lilongwe 438 7,428 4,381 0 0 11,809 Balaka 178 10,470 17,915 1,007 0 28,385 Kasungu 232 3,323 3,323 1,799 1 6,646 Zomba 119 8,077 7,710 700 13 15,787 M’mbelwa 535 6,931 4,675 969 0 11,606 Machinga 161 11,281 28,969 0 0 40,250 Blantyre 137 7,672 16,029 229 0 23,701 Mulanje 134 6,934 14,761 228 0 21,695 TOTALS 1,934 62,116 97,763 4,932 14 158,589
ADC Consultation Meetings at the Traditional Authority (TA) Level In order to come up with comprehensive plans for ADCs, LGAP also supported VAP consultation meetings attended by ADC members. Chairpersons of the VDCs, development partners, ward councilors and members of parliament attended these meetings. Through the help of constituency and ward level geo-resource maps provided by LGAP, members identified assets available to them that can generate solutions to their problems. The maps also helped members to have a clear understanding of where social amenities are located in their areas. Key Outcomes of the VAP Process The rolling out of VAP activities in the eight LGAP-supported districts has for the first time registered huge results. These include: ▪ Facilitation of meaningful community engagement on their plans. ▪ Energized local planning processes in the communities for them to sustainably use in their future development planning initiatives.
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▪ The formulated VAPs and ADPs to be used by the communities in making sure that the duty bearers are accountable on resources meant for development. ▪ Consultation both at VDC and ADC levels by 158,589 villagers, 1,934 VDCs, and 117 ADCs on VAP formulation. ▪ Increased capacity of extension workers in the councils to successfully facilitate village development plans. Sub-Result 1.2 Accountability, PFM, and Oversight of Public Expenditures Improved 1.2.1 Promote Use of IFMIS in all Councils to Maximize Accountability in PFM In addition to the activities detailed below, this report also includes a series of district-level case studies, highlighting achievements in public financial management in the districts. See Annex I. Support and Mentor Operationalization of Revenue Modules IFMIS is the accounting package the Malawi Government uses for accounting resources in local councils. However, analysis by the National Audit Office (NAO) has noted that councils do not fully utilize IFMIS in recording payments in the councils. For instance, bank reconciliations are not up to date, councils make payments not recorded in IFMIS, project bank accounts were not in IFMIS, and councils are still writing checks manually. In order to support the councils, LGAP organized and facilitated mentoring sessions and in-depth trainings on IFMIS through a “hands-on approach.” With LGAP support, NLGFC trained more than 100 finance officers in IFMIS operations in all LGAP-supported districts. This was the first formal IFMIS training that NLGFC had organized for the newly recruited accountants, procurement officers, stores officers and revenue accounts assistants. The participants also included accounting personnel from other sectors. Following this training, councils will begin reporting the revenue in IFMIS without difficulties and district staff will be easily able to retrieve revenue reports from IFMIS with accurate information. Table 3 - IFMIS capacity building support by district Bala Blant Kasu Lilong Machin M'mbe Mula TOTA POSITION ka yre ngu we ga lwa nje Zomba L Chief Accountant 1 1 1 1 4 Principal Accountant 1 1 1 3 Accountant 2 1 1 1 1 6 Assistant Director of Finance 1 1 1 1 4 Assistant Accountant 5 3 8 Senior Accounts Assistant 1 1 2 Cashier 1 1 1 1 4 Accounts Assistant 6 5 6 9 3 4 3 7 43 Procurement Officer 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8 Assistant Procurement Officer 1 1 2 Stores Clerk 2 3 2 1 2 4 1 1 16 Internal Auditor 1 1 TOTAL 10 13 10 16 10 19 9 14 101
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Build Technical Skills of Council Finance and Accounting Personnel in Financial Management through On-the- Job Mentorship and Cross Learning The ongoing reallocation of revenue budget in the councils as carried out during the quarter provided mentorship sessions for the revenue supervisors and revenue collectors. The LGAP public finance management specialists guided the processes of breaking down the projected revenue at sub-office to specific markets. This process appeared to be a new approach for the revenue collectors and revenue supervisors. Attendees recommended that in the future, the revenue collectors and supervisors come up with the detailed projections on a specific market, as this will enable the councils to track the revenue collections and performance. This will allow councils to not only better predict market revenues, but will also help them to identify gaps in revenue collection when specific markets are not performing as expected. Hands-on Mentoring of Councils in Record Keeping (Particularly Filing of Vouchers and Financial Statements) Following the massive exercise in Year 1 on the production of final accounts, where LGAP supported the clearing of the backlog of final accounts, the LGAP PFM specialists built on these gains by providing mentorship sessions and hands-on coaching on record keeping. The filling system of vouchers and financial statements for the councils has greatly improved. The feedback from Exit meetings with Council Management on audits indicated that they experienced reduced audit queries on missing vouchers and improved efficiency in the time of accessing required information because of LGAP support. Sub-Result 1.3: Capacity of Councilors to Serve as Effective Representatives Improved LGAP trained the Blantyre District full council on decentralization, the local government system, and development. The return of Councilors to the system in 2014 after a nine-year break presented its own opportunities and challenges including confusion of the roles of councilors versus other players in the council. Other actors in the council were still conducting business without recognizing that councils now have elected councilors. The Blantyre Council training was part of the two trainings LGAP negotiated with the MLGRD in the previous quarter as a pilot of the massive capacity enhancement of councils planned by the program. The training ran from October 1-7, 2017, and largely addressed capacity issues for Blantyre District Council in the areas of finance, planning, human resource, policy, legal, council internal operations, and cross-cutting issues. LGAP designed the trainings to be a launch pad for positioning councils to be more responsive and effective in delivering services. Topics covered included: ▪ Decentralization: As a concept and a basis for reflecting on the capacity of the councils to make decisions as mandated by the Decentralization Policy and the Local Government Act; ▪ Local government systems and structures: Clarifying the functions of the council and major roles as outlined in the act; ▪ Roles and responsibilities of council members; ▪ Code of Ethics and Conduct; ▪ Local Economic Development and District Development Planning: A new concept, which helped the council to do an examination of the necessary resources that can enable it to gain leverage in revenue generation and harness a favorable environment, within which they can play a role in income generation activities; ▪ Malawi Local Government Association (MALGA): A session on appreciating the role and operational framework for MALGA; ▪ Human Resource Management in the context of decentralization; ▪ Crosscutting issues: gender, HIV/AIDS, climate change and disaster risk management decentralization in multiparty systems, conflict and conflict management.
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Capacity development issues derived from the training of local councils in Lilongwe and Blantyre districts included: ▪ Lack of rules of procedure for councils. Due to absence of Standing Orders, most operations are un- procedural, unregulated, and are difficult to follow. ▪ Strengthening the legislative function of councils: Ignorance of key processes in making and implementing bylaws. There is need to identify key areas to be regulated through bylaws and sponsor model bylaws in those areas for consideration and adoption by the respective councils. ▪ Strengthening the functionality of service committees for the effective operation of the district councils. There is need to train service committees on their specific roles, mandates and responsibilities. This is all the more important because committee membership changes every year. ▪ Training of staff responsible for servicing district council and service committees. Documentation and records management (minute taking, filing council documentation, documentation of committee reports and decisions, and tracking of actions taken on resolutions of council committees). There is a need for a short hands-on training to quickly support performance of their functions. ▪ Enhancing the capacity of local structures. Effective community structures are critical in the upward accountability where local communities demand services from the local government. The trainings revealed that there was limited understanding of the operations of local governments at the community level. LGAP will work with CSOs in the sector in training the structures at these levels in order to improve monitoring and accountability of the service providers. ▪ Follow-up on district action plan recommendations. Each of the district councils made important recommendations as contained in their respective district action plans. LGAP, in collaboration with the MLGRD, should provide specific follow up and support to the councils in the implementation of key actions and recommendations in the DAPs. The district councils should discuss and formally adopt those plans for implementation. ▪ Establishment of a district development fund. This fund would amalgamate all types of funds in the district meant for development. This would be easier to manage, monitor, and evaluate by each district council. This is a policy matter that the MLGRD is considering among the options for improving management of development funds in Councils ▪ Strengthening the functionality of MALGA. There is need to improve the visibility and effectiveness of the association’s support to the local governments. This would mean supporting MALGA to work more closely with the local councils to design programs and interventions that respond to the real time needs of the councils. The orientation of Lilongwe and Blantyre District Councils provided a baseline insight into the councils’ capacity needs. This has also formulated a basis for technical support to various council operations and some of the emerging results following the LGAP support, as follows: ▪ LGAP supported Lilongwe District Council on the longtime pending review of their standing orders, expecting this will improve regulation of council business. Further detail on the activity is below, under Result Area 3. ▪ Lilongwe District Council has submitted a request for support to orient service committee chairpersons following the reconstitution of service committees. ▪ Councilors have more questions regarding council business following training on their role in governance oversight. Lilongwe District Council took their secretariat to task on insights of the SEP document, which the secretariat had not shared with them previously to inform their deliberations in service committees. This follows the awareness councilors gained on their oversight role. The Staff Development Institute (SDI) participated in assessing the trainers during the training of district officials in Lilongwe and Blantyre. This was in preparation for taking on the local government resource pool facilitators to be based at the Institute. LGAP has already undertaken an initial assessment of the institutional capacity of SDI. Continuous retraining and utilization of the facilitators in the resource pool would create a critical mass of consultants on decentralization, local governance
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and local development to support implementation of decentralization in Malawi. In the remaining three quarters of the year, LGAP will develop strategies for structured capacity enhancement of the secretariat, council structures, and professionalizing local government. Sub-Result 1.4: Own-Source Revenue and Local Economic Development Increased Support the Formation of Market Vendor Committees Own-source revenue is a critical component to enhance autonomy and development in district councils. A good working relationship between councils and market vendors is critical to promoting the willingness of vendors to pay market fees. Committees are supposed to represent the interests of market vendors, but in many places they were non-existent or operating under expired terms. LGAP supported the councils in the activation of the market vendor committees where they existed and facilitated the election of the new market committees where the term of office had lapsed. LGAP facilitated the organization of elections at randomly selected markets to benefit from this treatment intervention. The elections were presided over by the district elections officers in all the district councils. The district either earmarked the market committees for new elections or supported capacity building of market committees where they already existed. Most market committees had overstayed their term, by from 5 to 16 years. Vendors were very eager to hold elections in most of the markets as evidenced by their active participation. District officials, together with LGAP, noted that market committees that had overstayed their terms reported under- collection of revenue from those markets. Together with councils, systems are now in place for councils to continuously hold elections in all the markets so that each market should have eligible market committees that can perform its duties effectively. Support Market Committee Trainings for Treatment Markets Council facilitators supported market committee trainings in district councils through development of training modules for market committee trainings. Revenue and revenue collection are fundamental to the sustainable operations of every local council. The National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC), in collaboration with selected councils, developed a handbook to guide orientation of market and property rates payer committees. The handbook, however, lacked a carefully structured step-by-step process to guide and standardize facilitation. LGAP provided technical support in developing a manual to guide facilitators or trainers of market committees on the roles of market committees toward improving their functionality. The manual covers the following topics: ▪ Understanding market committees ▪ Roles of key stakeholders in market management ▪ Why train market committees ▪ Bylaws ▪ Market revenues ▪ Hygiene and sanitation in the market ▪ Conflict management in the market ▪ Mainstreaming topics: gender, HIV, and business knowledge in the market ▪ Action planning: post orientation
Each session provides objectives, inputs and process steps for facilitators to follow. During the training, the market committees acknowledged that they did not have an understanding of revenue collected at the market and how it is used, and this contributed to hesitation on the part of vendors in paying fees. With the training, the market committees committed to take part in providing checks and balances as far as market fee collection is concerned,. Now that they know
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their roles and responsibilities, they should own the development initiative at the market. Committee members have learned that the committee and the revenue collector should work as a team and not in isolation. LGAP will work with market committees to produce market maps that are official legal ownership documents. Additionally, the group village heads should be orientated on the Local Government Act and Chiefs Act on the management and interference of management of markets owned by the councils. LGAP will support sharing of financial reports with the market committee to reduce misunderstanding between the council and vendors, thereby increasing revenue collections because vendors will understand how the collected funds are used.
Figure 5: Market Committee Election in Kasungu Sub-Result 1.5: USAID Activities are Better Integrated in District Planning and Budgeting 1.5.1 USAID Partner Participation in VAP Process USAID IPs Support for DDP Process In order to ensure that USAID activities are better integrated in district planning process, the VAP activities included other USAID implementing partners (IPs). LGAP facilitated a joint planning session with all USAID IPs, NGOs, and the district executive committee (DEC) members to plan for roll out of VAP process. The participation of other USAID IPs was more prominent in Balaka, Machinga, Zomba, and Blantyre Figure 6: USAID Project Staff from ONSE, NJIRA, and LGAP in districts, where MSH-ONSE, RTI- Machinga District to support the AEC Orientation MERIT, PCI-NJIRA, and Emmanuel International-NJIRA provided support. Through the VAP process, for instance, there was close coordination and collaboration where Emmanuel International, which is the implementer of PCI’s Njira project and Management for Science and Health, which is implementing the ONSE project, brought in resources such as transport and human resources to support the VAP process. The Community Asset Mapping tool used by Emmanuel International became an easy tool to manage as the organization produced up-to-date geo-maps for
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all the VDCs in the district, and the maps contained most of the information that was required in the process. This simplified the triangulation of information provided by the communities. Additional integration activities are highlighted in the Integration Section of this report.
RESULT AREA 2: DEMAND FOR ACCOUNTABLE GOVERNMENT STRENGTHENED AT THE LOCAL LEVEL Table 4: Result Area 2 Indicator Performance No. Performance Indicator FY 2018 FY Q1 Target Actual R2.1 % of households in focus districts that understand roles of districts, ADCs, and 66.7% VDCs (CDCS) R2.2 Number of citizens who participate in participatory planning processes (custom) 783,000 158,589 R2.3 Number of mechanisms for external oversight of public resource use supported by 16 0 USG assistance (DR.2.4-2) R2.4 Number of individuals receiving voter education through USG-assisted programs 0 0 (DR.3.2-4) R2.5 Number of individuals receiving civic education through USG-assisted programs 787,000 158,589 (DR.3.2-5) R2.6 Number of human rights organizations trained and supported (DR.4.2-1) 115 56 R2.7 115 56 Number of civil society organizations (CSOs) receiving USG assistance engaged in advocacy interventions (DR.4.2-2) R2.8 Number of beneficiaries reached through joint cross-sector activities. 384 288
Repressed citizen-state relations characterize Malawi’s political and social life. This legacy has undermined incentives for citizen advocacy of government accountability and collective action. The compounding problems of informal state capture by patronage networks, poverty, and poor education undermine citizen empowerment to hold government accountable. The activities planned for this quarter were intended to start bridging these gaps. In order to promote community voices, LGAP commissioned community engagement activities using communication methods such as radio, TV, and town hall meetings. Further, in order to ensure full participation of communities in local government planning and policy development, LGAP commissioned the Village Action Planning (VAP) process to give a chance to the lowest-level local government structures (ADCs and VDCs), which are the primary interface for citizens with government, to adequately articulate their development aspirations. Hitherto District Development Plans were simply lists of needs without sufficient input and prioritization from the grassroots, leaving citizens frustrated that the planning process and the plan itself did not result in achieving their development aspirations. Minimal feedback to citizens reinforced this frustration. Although the VAP process might not have made them fully functional, it has created an opportunity for citizen engagement, which if exploited, may make these structures functional and effective, and improve performance of local government in general. In addition, LGAP also planned to support selected CSO’s social accountability work through provision of grants during this quarter. The program held a pre-award workshop and received proposals, and expect sub-granting will begin in the next quarter. Sub-Result 2.1: Citizen Participation in Local Government Planning and Policy Development Increased As described above in Result 1, LGAP supported the Village Action Planning process. In addition to contributing to the district planning process, this activity gives the opportunity to citizens to articulate their developmental goals and needs, therefore contributing to LGAP’s Result Area 2. Citizens prioritized needs to inform the public budget. The process also allowed them to identify, discuss, and reach a consensus on development issues and initiatives that communities themselves, councils,
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development partners, and NGOs should undertake to address these issues. Through various orientation sessions, LGAP educated citizens on the roles of various actors in the district council to understand how they fit into the whole system. The orientations discussed the roles of councilors, members of parliament, traditional leaders, interest groups, VDCs, ADCs, CSOs, and various government sectors in relation to development planning and policy formulation. Citizens also discussed how they can engage, access, and contact these structures. However, since the main aim of these orientations was to prepare for the VAP process, facilitators did not adequately cover some topics while other topics, which were deemed irrelevant at this time, were not discussed at all. LGAP and district authorities need to continue engaging these structures to improve understanding. With respect to social accountability, the VAP process raised the following issues: • The question of capacity, legitimacy, and functionality of the local level structures The task of implementing development plans requires structures that are functional, well organized, and adequately resourced, yet most of these structures are far from that. An analysis of the VDCs showed that most of them have members that have not received any training regarding their roles since their election into office or the relationship between the VDC and other structures. In some few cases, traditional leaders appointed VDC members, and in such cases, the composition of the ADC was problematic. This not only affects their legitimacy but also their efficiency and effectiveness. • Observed failure of citizens to articulate governance issues at the grassroots In the locality, the concept of governance is as elusive as it is to some learned people. Having for a long time perceived development in terms of infrastructure, the communities are still finding it difficult to see other socio-economic aspects of development. As such, despite several facilitation efforts, communities are still not able to articulate governance issues, nor do they see them as relevant to development. In some cases people failed to raise these issues out of fear of reprisals from powerful traditional leaders or politicians who have built intricate patronage systems overtime. Although the MLGRD deliberately designed the VAP process to break this cycle, it is clear that there is need to influence the identification and discussion of these issues so that solutions can be found. • Limited availability of some critical service sectors in the rural areas In some parts of Kasungu for instance, there are no extension workers for agriculture, despite Kasungu being an agricultural district. It is very difficult for citizens to access agricultural extension services in this area since the nearest agriculture office is some 50 km away over a difficult dry- weather road. • Allowance culture Almost everywhere that LGAP supported the VAP process, participants expected to get an allowance for having participated in the process. There were some isolated incidents where participants almost disrupted meetings because they demanded allowances instead of refreshments. Time was lost on lengthy discussions regarding logistics in order to clarify the issue of allowances. This is a serious problem. However, there were bright spots in some communities. For example, Chief Kaomba’s area donated bags of maize flour and two goats for VAP participants to use during VAP consolidation. Engaging with Civil Society Organization through Grants The quarter also planned to support social accountability activities implemented by selected CSOs through provision of grants. Potential grantees had responded to a previously released call for proposals. Disbursement of grants will commence next quarter. Grants under Contract (GUC) falls
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under Key Result Area 2: Demand for accountable government strengthened at the local level. This is where LGAP intends to work with local NGOs, CBOs, and other CSOs to strengthen citizens’ demand for accountable government as its main goal. Proposed activities include: ▪ Public awareness on decentralization and other relevant government policies. This can be achieved through electronic media, print media, community meetings, road shows, and billboards. ▪ Sensitize the public on the roles of various local government structures (councilors, members of parliament, DECs, ADCs, AECs, and VDCs. This can be achieved through electronic media, print media, community meetings, road shows, billboards, screen-printing of t-shirts, and debates). ▪ Organize public awareness meetings on roles of councilors, MPs, and decentralized structures in social accountability. ▪ Organize public forums at various levels to discuss issues affecting the delivery of services. ▪ Support the councils in the process of revamping the ADCs and VDCs in line with the Local Government Act. ▪ Facilitate meetings between VDCs and communities to ensure communities’ participation in planning, budgeting, and other development processes. ▪ Support CSOs network thematic meetings at the district level. ▪ Conduct joint monitoring of projects implemented by the local councils.
Applicants were encouraged to be creative, and could propose activities different from those suggested in the RFA, as long as they contribute to achieving LGAP objectives. Sub-Result 2.2: Social Accountability and Transparency of Public Expenditure Management and Service Delivery Improved 2.2.1 Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) Advocacy and Outreach Activities Supported Town Hall Meetings A town hall meeting provides an interface between government officials and citizens on issues of common importance, such as service delivery. If handled well, it is a communicative approach in which citizens impart and receive information from either elected or appointed officials from the government or other duty bearers. The citizens also have an opportunity to demand answers on service delivery to ensure a responsive and accountable government. The idea is to deepen transparency and accountability while at the same time strengthening citizens’ participation in a democratic process. In doing this, the local government stands to perform better on its wide mandate in various sectors such as agriculture, education, environment, and health. Recognizing this power of town halls, LGAP, in collaboration with the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, conducted a one-day town hall meeting for the Lilongwe District Council at Bridge Hotel. This town hall meeting included a cross-section of people such as councilors, members of parliament, representatives of vendors, and communities around Lilongwe. The town hall meeting provided an interface between the community and the decentralization challengers. The panel included Lilongwe City and Rural Council representatives, and a representative from MLGRD. Community representatives provided their feedback on the presentations in the form of questions and comments to the panelists. The meeting centered on decentralization as a governance policy and practice. Panelists talked to the audience on government and developing partners’ role in the decentralization program and on the role of the citizens. The audience, mostly market vendors, citizens, councilors, and representatives from the legislature from Lilongwe, took turns in quizzing the panelists on some issues affecting them in the short, medium, and long term. Among others, the audience highlighted their concerns on the deepening corruption in the allocation and administration of land. The audience also had issues with the widening inequalities between the rich and the poor. The outcome of this town hall was that
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panelists informed citizens about the decentralization process and the operations of the Lilongwe District Council while the officials understood issues that the communities identified for immediate attention. Jingles and Mini-Documentaries Jingles are short, catchy musical elements that try to attract the attention of the listener on a specific development topic or issue of interest. Within the framework of LGAP, the jingles focus on transparency and accountability of local governments, citizens’ engagement and oversight and strengthening decentralization policy support to the government. To support this work, LGAP developed 10 different jingles for radio, broadly focusing on decentralization. The jingles are in five languages — English, Chichewa, Chitumbuka, Chiyao, and Chihlomwe — thereby covering all major ethnic groups of Malawi. The anticipated impact is that listeners will pick a key message and take action, thereby supporting citizens’ involvement in development with the ultimate purpose of building their resilience in the event that the support they get from development partners comes to an end. In addition, the project produced three mini-documentaries focusing on how market revenue fee collections could support the mandate of the district councils. The idea was to demonstrate to the councils how they can find sustainable ways of generating their own resources and be able to stand on their own in running their councils as well as in the provision of quality service in the districts. TV, Radio Programs, and Promos After rolling out radio and television programs “Zili Pati? Za Mphamvu ku Anthu” on MBC, Zodiak, and Times between September and October 2017, LGAP received feedback from a meeting among principal secretaries in government ministries. They wanted to be able to highlight issues of decentralization taking place in their ministries. The first of these programs aired in December 2017 on Zodiak Radio. Realizing the power of rural radio stations — which reach 85 percent of people in rural areas — LGAP embarked on maximizing its audience reach by partnering with seven community radio stations in the LGAP focus districts: Tigabane (Mzimba South), Mzimba Radio (Mzimba North), Maziko Radio (Lilongwe and Kasungu), Radio Maria Radio (Balaka and Machinga), Yoneco Radio (Zomba), MIJ Radio (Blantyre), and Mzati Radio (Mulanje). The rollout of these radio programs took place in four phases. The first phase involved drawing up an MOU between LGAP and the community stations. The second phase was the training of the radio personnel and participants, who were drawn from the District Councils, CSOs, CBOs, local commentators, and academics, in the radio programs on Decentralization concept. The third phase was the production and airing of the programs. The forth phase involved monitoring of the programs’ delivery, assessing the audiences’ reception, and evaluating the impact of the program in each of the listening communities. In addition, two promos of “Zili Pati? Za Mphamvu Ku Anthu” were produced for both radio and television. Billboards, Stickers, and Posters Another way of reaching out to a wider audience is the use of billboards, stickers, and posters. During the reporting period, LGAP produced and mounted 11 roadside billboards in its eight focus districts, highlighting the need for citizens to support the decentralization process and take part in any development process. Except for one billboard at the entrance of government headquarters in Lilongwe, all billboards are in Chichewa to ensure that the messages reach a majority of Malawians. To augment the impact of the billboards, LGAP produced car stickers to promote the concept of decentralization. Similarly, LGAP developed posters carrying various messages in Chichewa, which will be disseminated in all LGAP focus districts. The program anticipates that the messages on billboards, stickers, and posters will reach the majority of people across the country.
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Media Training for Community Radio Station Staff and Radio Drama Artists Cognizant of the critical role the media plays in development, LGAP trained local media practitioners to understand decentralization so they can ask the right questions and report from a place of knowledge of the subject area. LGAP also trained staff (producers and presenters) from seven community radio stations to equip them with knowledge and skills on better programming and presentation. In addition, LGAP trained radio play dramatists to be able to appropriately tackle and package relevant themes and other emerging issues in development through dedicated radio plays. The idea of the radio plays is to use theater for development as a means of entertaining the masses while at the same time driving home important messages on decentralization so that citizens are able to hold officials accountable. Sub-Result 2.3: USAID Support is Better Integrated in Social Accountability Activities As the village action planning process cut across both Result Area 1 and 2, so the participation of other USAID partners in the process also mutually reinforced the two Result Areas. As described above, USAID partners contributed significantly to the VAP process, helping to ensure that citizen priorities were articulated in the plans. Through LGAP’s work supporting the IEC, radio programs also featured discussions that cut across sectors representing areas of USAID investments. For example, the “Zili Pati??” program that aired the week of December 4 featured panelists from the health, education, and agricultural sectors to discuss sector devolution across the line ministries and devolution achievements to date.
RESULT AREA 3: DECENTRALIZATION POLICY ENVIRONMENT AND SYSTEMS IMPROVED – POLICY INTERFACE Table 5: Result Area 3 Indicator Performance No. Performance Indicator FY 2018 FY2018 Q1 Target Actual R3.1 54 27 Number of policies to devolve authority to district governments being implemented with USG assistance (Custom) R3.2 Number of sectoral budgets being managed by district governments (Custom) 10 9 R3.3 Number of policies regulations, and/or administrative procedures in stages of 54 36 development as result of USG assistance (CDCS) R3.4 Number of district with completed annual performance assessments (Custom) 8 0 R3.5 Number of integration or cross cutting forums, joint work planning activities, 40 10 sector/technical working groups held with USG assistance (Custom) The primary focus in this quarter was to support refining and strengthening the policy and regulatory environment for decentralization and giving attention to deepening decentralization while supporting the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development in exploring ways to improve the internal coordination of its multi-faceted functions.
LGAP supported strengthening the inspectorate function of the MLGRD in order to ensure that the ministry has the capacity to undertake systematic verification of adherence to legal and policy frameworks, regulations, guidelines, procedures, and rules to ensure efficiency in the operations of local governments. The Government of Malawi adopted Devolution, a form of decentralization where government transfers political, financial and administrative powers and responsibility from the national to local level. Whereas there have been great strides made in political and financial devolution, there still is a lot of work to be done to ensure that personnel are devolved and recruited at the local level. In this quarter, LGAP supported the MLGRD, Local Government Service Commission, and the Department of Human Resource Management and Development in conducting a head count of all civil servants at the local level as a step toward rationalization and integration of staff at the district level. LGAP will follow this exercise with a deployment and recruitment plan for all councils. To anchor the coordination and supervision role of the MLGRD, the program supported the Ministry to develop a devolution plan and guidelines, under which the local governments help manage the functions devolved
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to them. Other areas of support in the quarter included development of a Local Authority Performance Assessment Tool, assessment, and by-law formulation. Finally, LGAP supported MLGRD to hold its Technical Working Group (TWG) meeting on local development planning and financing for the integrated rural development (IRD) and decentralization. Sub-Result 3.1: Select Policies and Legal Reforms Related to Decentralization Supported 3.1.1 Provision of Quality Assurance in Ensuring that Councils are Adhering to Standards a) Strengthening the Inspectorate Function of the MLGRD In this quarter, LGAP supported the MLGRD in its mandate to ensure the councils adhere to standards, specifically supporting the MLGRD in formulation of a concept for strengthening the inspectorate function in the Ministry. This support will help activate the inspectorate function of the ministry, common services, and its affiliates to promote adherence to the requirements of the LGA policies and guidelines and encourage best practice, accountability, and transparency in local government through institutionalized inspectorate visits supervising, advising, and guiding the Local Government Councils. The inspectorate function entails undertaking systematic verification of adherence to legal and policy frameworks, regulations, guidelines, procedures, and rules to ensure efficiency in the operations of local governments and providing technical support to remedy areas of weakness. 3.1.2 Strengthen Coordination of Decentralization Across the GOM a) High-Level Coordination: Meeting of Principal Secretaries and Chief Directors on Local Government and Decentralization During the quarter, the program co-supported a meeting of principal secretaries and chief directors of the Government of Malawi. The MLGRD convened the meeting and the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) presided over it. In convening the meeting, the ministry benefited from the financial and technical support of the Irish Government through Irish Aid and LGAP. LGAP sponsored the involvement of the consultant facilitator. The technical facilitation involved summarizing the strategic issues discussed in the meeting and drawing up relevant recommendations based on four presentations and issues raised in a follow-up plenary session. The main objective of the meeting was to update principal secretaries and chief directors on the status of the implementation of the National Decentralization Policy. MLGRD expected the participants to discuss the main challenges they have faced in implementing the decentralization policy since its approval by government in 1998. Attendees considered the meeting to be an important opportunity for the principal secretaries and chief directors to brainstorm on the progress made over the years, the challenges faced, and make proposals for addressing them. Presentation of Issue Papers The four presentations included: ▪ Overview of Decentralization in Malawi, presented by Mrs. Sphiwe Mauwa, Director of Local Government Services in MLGRD; ▪ Reforms on Decentralization, presented by Mr. Walusungu Kaira, Deputy Director of Policy and Planning, MLGRD; ▪ Update on Human Resource Devolution, presented by Mr. Mike Majabula, Director of Management Services, Department of Human Resource Management and Development (DHRMD); and ▪ Decentralized Human Resource Management, presented by Mr. Berlings Kumpata-Executive Secretary, Local Government Service Commission (commonly known as LASCOM).
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Following the four presentations, OPC led a plenary discussion, during which OPC requested the facilitator review the strategic issues raised in the presentations during the plenary session and consolidate them into strategic issues and recommendations to be presented in the last session. Selected Consolidated Issues and Recommendations of the Meeting ▪ Inadequate vertical and horizontal coordination in the implementation of decentralization due to weak coordination capacities in MLGRD and the need for more meetings of principal secretaries (PSs) and chief directors of devolving ministries and departments. ▪ The need to review the legal, policy, and institutional frameworks for the implementation of decentralization in Malawi to remove any obstacles, in view of lessons learned over the years. ▪ The empowerment of the citizenry to demand accountability, transparency, and responsibility from government and overcome unnecessary politicization of local development. ▪ The need to deepen the human resource devolution process by conducting rationalization and right-sizing activities so as to strengthen councils’ human resource capacities through staff integration (eliminate the three categories of staff: seconded, direct, and Local Government Service Commission (LGSC), redeployment, clarification of council staff career progression lines, and enhancing HR management systems, including clear definition of terms of service for local staff. ▪ The need for speedy conclusion of the harmonization of service commissions and redefinition of the role of common services (accounting, administrative, economic, human resource management, and others) in the decentralization process. ▪ The need to take measures or reforms to improve revenue collection and management so as to reduce councils’ over-dependence on central government for funding.
Attendees agreed that the meeting was a very important way of enabling key decision-makers in the decentralization process to share their experiences and resolve the implementation challenges they face. The meeting adopted the facilitator’s recommendation that the PSs and chief directors should meet once every quarter to review progress in the implementation of the decentralization policy and resolve any challenges. Participants also requested that in addition to the presentation made, the facilitator prepare an action plan based on the presentations and plenary recommendations to form the basis for resolving the implementation challenges at future quarterly meetings. The detailed action plan should have timelines and indications of officials and institutions to undertake specific actions. b) Human Resource Devolution With adoption of the decentralization policy in 1998, government has made many strides in sector, fiscal, and HR devolution, establishment of institutional and legal frameworks to support the decentralization process, and quality improvement of service delivery standards. One of the priority areas under decentralization reforms is complete devolution of HR. Therefore, LGAP is supporting the MLGRD to address the urgent need for a proper coordination mechanism on HR devolution. Despite the considerable progress made, the involvement of multiple players in the process has created challenges including varying differences in approaches, methodology, and context. It is critical that MLGRD address these issues in order to have common ground and understanding to achieve effectiveness and uniformity. LGAP is supporting MLGRD to coordinate HR devolution by engaging all key stakeholders in an effort to address some of the challenges. The MLGRD will continue to provide strategic guidance. LGAP recognizes that an Implementation Committee on HR Devolution is one way of enhancing coordination since this creates room for consultations and collaboration amongst critical players in the process.
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To this end, LGAP has supported the MLGRD in formulation of the concept and terms of reference (TORs) for the Implementation Committee on HR Devolution. These were approved by the MLGRD, and a meeting has been scheduled for early January 2018 to formulate a work plan for the Committee. 3.1.3 Support Key Policy and Legislative Reforms a) MLGRD Devolution Plan and Management Guidelines for Devolved Functions LGAP supported the MLGRD to prepare and finalize the MLGRD Devolution Plan and Management Guidelines for functions the ministry is devolving to local governments to facilitate the implementation of the government’s Decentralization Policy and programs in the years ahead. In line with the principle of subsidiarity, the plan outlines, , the functions of the ministry to be devolved to councils and those that it will retain as prescribed by the Local Government Act 1998, the Decentralization Policy, and the Guidelines for Sector Devolution Plans. The Management Guidelines serve to guide local governments in management of the devolved functions, including: • Local development planning • Rural development • Human resource management • Chiefs administration • Monitoring and evaluation b) Formulation of By-laws in Local Governments LGAP is collaborating with the MLGRD to support local governments to formulate local policy for the management of various sectors in the area under their jurisdiction. The program anticipates the by- laws will deal with problems and opportunities related to the development and management of services, although a wide variety of other issues may be addressed. Laypersons should be able to understand the by-laws, and they should also be interpretable by the legal system. The strategy goes toward a mix of support through model by-laws (where such exist) and consultancy. Thus, a consultant (a lawyer) will be required to put together district submissions, which will be in non-professional language, into a legally acceptable format for presentation to the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs (MJCA). This ministry will be involved at almost every critical stage of the formulation. This will ensure that the MJCA, who approve or vet the by-laws, are part of the process and provide quality control throughout. 3.1.4 Support to Local Authorities Performance Assessments In November 2017, LGAP, in collaboration with senior MLGRD staff, completed the development of the final LAPA tool. LGAP based the revisions on the LAPA pre-testing findings, which included: ▪ Overall, all the councils showed that their DDPs were not prepared, or if they were valid, they had not been prepared according to the approved government standards and templates; their DDPs did not spell out the overall policy statements in line with the national planning instruments. They had no valid Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) framework for the DDPs in place. They had no integrated district data bank systems in place. They had valid annual investment plans, but fewer than 40 percent of projects were being implemented. They did have computer based M&E systems and a functional M&E office, but often lacked approved M&E plans and functional district M&E committees. ▪ Under the human resource development and management Key Performance Area (KPA), councils generally showed weaknesses that included having 11-30 percent vacancy rates at the senior management level; not having approved performance management policies in place in line with performance management guidelines, which sometimes resulted in senior managers reporting to the DC not having performance agreements for the year just ended to help account for their performance; and, having active establishment warrants in place with less
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than 39 percent of the devolved sector technical staff integrated under one technical directorate. ▪ Under the financial and procurement management KPA, councils generally showed weaknesses that include having budgets that are not properly funded; failure to undertake proper reconciliation of their expenditures and revenues in line with the NLGFC-approved Financial Management Manual; failure to have an internal auditor or shared capacity in internal auditing; failure to have an approved debt management policy/guideline to support effective financial management; failure to achieve less than 10 percent of own-source revenue income compared to total annual budget; and failure to publish all three financial instruments, namely, the financial, audit, or budgets, to the public through full councils, among others. ▪ Local government is premised on active community participation in development processes or active citizenship to enable people take ownership and control of their destiny. Effective governance structures are key to this process. It is one thing to create governance structures, and another to empower them for action. ▪ Devolution entails transfer and sharing of power. Often this seems to remain a challenge at various levels. The space for councils to innovate remains largely limited as key council decisions such as making of council level policies still wait for headquarters approval. The culture of secrecy remains highly prevalent in most councils, resulting in lack of information dissemination to the public. And most of the governance structures, such as service committees, rarely meet or get involved in performing their roles. ▪ The weak engagement of council structures in council processes has enabled an unhealthy environment of mistrust between the structures and council employees, which has often resulted in unnecessary tension and fights. It has also created room for continued fraud and corruption due to limited oversight involving audit reports and field supervision by elected officers, for example. ▪ Unless governance structures are strengthened and given space to fulfill their roles, councils may not be able to improve service delivery, and local government goals will remain unmet. The results of the LAPA pre-test in LGAP districts are further detailed in the Integration section, below. Sub-Result 3.2: Public Financial Management Systems Improved In collaboration with NLGFC, LGAP supported an Inter-District Learning and Sharing Forum on Public Finance Management, with the aim of strengthening the public finance management system for local governments. The event brought together relevant public finance management experts to share experiences and lessons that would lead to improvements in budget and resource management; internal controls, audit, and monitoring; accounting and reporting; and external accountability. About 60 participants, including council directors and chairpersons of council from Balaka, Machinga, Zomba, Mulanje, and Blantyre, attended the forum. The key facilitators of the forum included the Office of the Auditor General and NLGFC. The Inter-District Learning Forum effectively addressed the following specific objectives: 1. Facilitated increased understanding on the roles, responsibilities, and accountabilities of directors and senior staff in PFM. 2. Appraised the successes and challenges in PFM for district councils and recommend appropriate actions. 3. Reviewed the issues arising out of council audits and developed concrete steps to address them. 4. Documented the achievements and lessons learned so far and publicized them. Some learning and discussion highlights from the PFM Learning and Sharing Forum:
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1. Interested stakeholders should regularly engage key institutions responsible for PFM including Ministry of Finance, Treasury, Accountant General and NLGFC. 2. The controlling officer has the overall responsibility to ensure the council is operating within the PFM laws including the PFM Act, Public Procurement Act, Public Audit Act and other policies. If a council does not comply with these, the council can enforce disciplinary procedures on the controlling officer. 3. NLGFC expressed concern that some councils do not submit financial reports on time despite clear guidance provided on specific deadlines. In certain cases, NLGFC has taken measures to correct the situation, such as transferring key personnel (e.g. accountants). One issue affecting the timely production of financial reports relates to the poor working relationship between accountants and district commissioners. 4. Government adopted the use of IFMIS for all financial transactions. However, not all councils fully comply with this directive and manage certain accounts outside the system. NLGFC has attempted to address this by withholding funding from those councils, but this has not been accepted by political masters who have interpreted the measures as punishing ordinary citizens rather than responsible officers. Another concern raised was on the reluctance of certain donors to accept the use of IFMIS for their projects, and preferring to use their own systems, such as Excel. 5. The National Audit Office (NAO), as the overseer of all audit services, articulated the common issues that have come out of the council audits. The issues included delays by councils in producing financial statements, which affects the schedule of audits; weak internal control systems at councils despite having well-articulated legislative tools; poor practices and non- compliance on public procurement; poor practices on acquisitions and stores; lack of fiscal discipline; and missing documentation. NAO recommended the provision of ongoing support in the form of hands-on training and a mentoring approach to councils that are struggling. NAO will also continue providing reports to Parliament and support the Public Accounts Committees in summoning responsible controlling officers to answer any audit queries in their councils.
Further detail on achievements and findings from specific councils in the PFM Case Studies is included in Annex I of this report. Sub-Result 3.3: Human Resources and Key Management Systems Improved 3.3.1 Support Staff Integration and Rationalization Process in Councils Local Government Staff Head Count In line with ongoing work toward HR devolution and rationalization and integration of staff at local level, LGAP is collaborating with the MLGRD, DHRMD, and Local Government Service Commission (LGSC) in carrying out a head counting of members of staff from all devolved sectors in all the eight LGAP districts. The exercise took place in all LGAP Districts of Blantyre, Balaka, Kasungu, Lilongwe, Machinga, Mulanje, and Zomba. Despite the new Establishment Warrant, only seven out of the targeted 17 sectors have devolved in the Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS) Payroll in most district councils. As a result, an unknown number of civil servants and ghost workers in some districts are still receiving their salaries from the district council’s meager resources while others draw their salaries from their parent ministries and the National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC). Despite the devolution of functions and responsibilities’ to local governments, which are supposed to be matched with personnel, some central ministries still cling to vital resources including salaries, which are supposed to go to the district council for efficient service delivery. Therefore, there was need for
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sensitization of district council staff in rationalization and integration of staff. In addition, LGAP supported the Local Government Service Commission (LGSC) to conduct a head-count exercise in order to establish disparities between the prescribed establishment warrant and the actual situation in councils. The integrated head counting team came up with a checklist of essential questions to assess actual numbers of all civil $6 Million – Estimated amount servants working in a district. The checklist included lost annually to ghost workers in the academic certificates, professional certificates, authority to public sector in Malawi. Exercises such as conducting an accurate head teach (in case of teachers), medical council practice count help to reduce the incidence certificates (for medical practitioners), and the latest of ghost workers. payroll as a reference tool for district staff returns. In addition to strengthening councils’ devolution mandate of human resource management functions, the head counting exercise will ensure that salaries of all civil servants are paid in the district and not by their parent ministries, which takes longer. The exercise provided a benchmark for capacity issues, which will inform long-term human resource development initiatives to enable strategic leadership over the district councils with reference to their establishment warrant and vacancy rates. Besides cutting expenditure on non-existent workers, this exercise will help the district councils to trace the number of essential staff who have moved in and out of the districts. In that way, the head counting exercise will help the district councils to precisely ascertain and plan for the actual number of essential staff needed in sectors such as education, health, and agriculture for efficient service delivery. The Local Government Service Commission is currently analyzing the district findings from the head count exercise, and they will share an analysis report. A special report will be made on findings from sectors such as health and education that are USAID supported. Sub-result 3.4 USAID Sectoral Support for Policy Reforms Coordinated, Reinforcing Decentralization (Progress detailed below in Integration section.)
INTEGRATION Integration activities in Quarter 1 have been highlighted above across each of the result areas. Interventions, including the district planning processes, continued support to IFMIS, HR support (including the head count exercise), and local authority performance assessment, contribute to more tightly integrated district councils. At the national level, the most significant activity undertaken in the quarter was the initial scoring of the District Capacity Index based on the completion of the Local Authorities Performance Assessment (LAPA). Scores are presented in Table 6. A further sector analysis of the scores is presented in Part II of the report, below. The scores, presented in the following tables, show both the overall DCI maximum score of 300, and the associated level score. Leveling was done to match the LAPA scoring rubric where ‘0’ represents the lowest possible level and signifies that a district has none of the requisite capacities in place, whereas ‘4’ represents the Gold Standard for districts according to their mandate in the Local Government Act. Table 6: Total District Capacity Index (DCI) Scores
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LEVELS
0 1 2 3 4 Maximum LGAP Score Level Score
Balaka 0 X 0 0 0 300 89 1 Blantyre 0 0 X 0 0 300 125 2 Kasungu 0 X 0 0 0 300 105 1 Lilongwe 0 0 X 0 0 300 120 2 Machinga 0 0 X 0 0 300 125 2 Mulanje 0 0 X 0 0 300 121 2 Mzimba 0 0 X 0 0 300 119 2 Zomba 0 0 X 0 0 300 115 2
As laid out in the contract and LGAP’s Activity Monitoring and Evaluation Plan (AMEP) , the score is composed of two lenses: the effectiveness lens, for which the LAPA serves as the basis, and the legitimacy lens, for which the Citizen Perception Survey (CPS) serves as the basis. A previous report contains the results of the CPS. The LAPA results appear in another part of this report. While the scores have been discussed internally, the next step is to share the DCI with other USAID partners to validate whether or not the scores align with what other implementers are seeing. Secondly, while the DCI is intended to measure differences in performance across districts, if it is important to take care not to pre-empt the results of the LAPA by presenting another metric to the districts. It is therefore important to have consultations with USAID on how best to use the results in a manner that, consistent with LGAP’s theory of change, best encourage improved performance. USAID IP-to-IP Integration The most active engagement between USAID IPs and LGAP in the quarter came through cross-sector support to the Village Action Planning process, which will ultimately lead to the District Development Plans. USAID IPs came in early and often. At the national level, LGAP consulted sector partners with significant operations within the districts, especially ONSE and MERIT, as well as those with smaller presences, such as SANE. Additionally, the NJIRA project made significant investments as highlighted in Result Area 1, above, and in the sector-specific sections below. Through these inputs, LGAP was able to leverage previous investments made by USAID in data for decision making, planning, and budgeting activities with the districts. This will set the foundation for involvement once districts, with LGAP support, finalize their district development plans. When the DDPs are complete, LGAP will work with District Planning Directors (DPDs) to bring USAID partners represented in the districts together. The DPDs will chair these integration forums, which will serve as an opportunity for districts and the sectors to share their plans with development partners (that the development partners themselves supported the development of). As outlined in the FY2018 work plan, this will serve as the basis for a regular exchange between development partners and districts to address needs that were originally solicited directly from the citizenry through the bottom-up planning approach.
CONSTRUCTION PLANS FOR THE NEXT QUARTER LGAP, through activities related to Result Area 1.4 on own-source revenue, will initiate activities for construction of small-market structures in the next quarter. In Quarter 2, the program envisions 64
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vending markets will make their small-scale construction choices. Simultaneously, LGAP will engage technical support in the form of an architect and engineering firm to design the infrastructure to be constructed, while also moving forward on tendering the designs to construction firms. LGAP anticipates construction activities will begin on the ground in the third quarter.
LESSONS LEARNED, PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED AND PROPOSED REMEDIAL ACTIONS Above, throughout relevant sub-results, this report laid out lessons learned, problems encountered, and remedial actions taken on specific activities. Specifically: • Starting on page 9, under Result 1, highlights, including lessons learned, from the VAP and Area Planning activities supported in the quarter. • On page 15, a summary of capacity development challenges from the training of local councils. • On page 19, challenges and opportunities of the VAP process through the lens of social accountability. • Page 25, lessons learned and actions to be taken following the high-level permanent secretaries’ meeting on advancing decentralization. • Page 27, knowledge about the Local Authorities Performance Assessment pre-testing exercise to better inform the national LAPA MLGRD will undertake with LGAP support. • On page 28, a number of learnings and discussions from the PFM Learning and Sharing Forum held in Blantyre.
SUCCESS STORIES Success stories are attached in Annex 2 and the DevResults submission of this report. Additionally, in the last quarter, LGAP produced three videos highlighting its work, which can be accessed at: https://player.vimeo.com/video/250615766 https://player.vimeo.com/video/250615890 https://player.vimeo.com/video/250615982
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PART II: RELEVANT ACTIVITIES BY SECTOR
EDUCATION Sector Support to Village Action Planning As discussed in the narrative above, sector support from other USAID partners was a key factor in ensuring their involvement. In the education sector, RTI’s MERIT project supported the inclusion of its own staff as well as district education extension staff at the area level. The purpose of this engagement was to ensure that district extension staff were given guidance on including education issues in the VAP process, and that sub-sub structures such as mother’s groups, parent teacher associations, and school management committees were consulted by the VDCs for inclusion of their issues. MERIT provided staff support and other resources toward this effort. District DCI Scores for Education Sector: Both the Local Authorities Performance Assessment (LAPA) and Citizen Perception Survey (CPS) contained metrics for assessing the effectiveness and legitimacy of local government service delivery in the education sector. The pilot of the LAPA included six questions on district performance in the education sector, while the CPS asked citizens three questions on their views on satisfaction with education services. Questions of effectiveness, vis-à-vis the LAPA, centered around two thematic areas. Questions on standards focused on formal adherence to national education standards in terms of the existence of key documents, district and sub-district sector structures, availability, access, and quality of education systems. Questions on performance focused on functional service delivery in the education sector. Generally, LGAP districts performed well on the former and poorly on the latter. While the results need to be taken up by education experts for further analysis, the suggestion is that districts have the formal structures and foundational documents (sector plans, guidelines, monitoring standards, etc.) but that this is not translating into quality service delivery on the ground. LGAP has previously reported on the results of the CPS (legitimacy) by sector. One of the key questions for the DCI that LGAP was interested in was whether there would be a correlation between citizens’ perception of service delivery and the district’s self-assessment of its own performance. While the dataset is too small for rigorous statistical analysis (n=8 districts), very rudimentary analysis shows no statistical correlation between the two lenses of the index. In some cases, for example Balaka, citizens rated service delivery very poorly while the LAPA score was average. Conversely, in neighboring Machinga, citizens rated service delivery much higher, while the LAPA score was slightly lower. Table 7: District Balaka Blantyre Kasungu Mbelwa Machinga Mulanje Lilongwe Zomba Legitimacy 3 8 7 9 11 9 6 8 (Total 12) Effectiveness 16 15 16 15 15 17 16 16 (Total 24) Total 36 (%) 19 23 23 24 26 26 22 24 (53%) (64%) (64%) (67%) (72%) (72%) (61%) (67%)
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HEALTH Sector Support to Village Action Planning All three priority sectors received integrated support in the VAP process. For health, ONSE staff, and project vehicles supported efforts in the districts where LGAP and ONSE overlap. The role of ONSE was to ensure the inclusion of their own staff as well as district health office representatives for the planning and capacity building sessions at the area level. Additionally, ONSE had recently completed an activity providing technical support to the District Health Management Teams on development of their Annual Investment Plans for the 2018 budget cycle. This activity included significant outreach to health centers in the communities to identify health issues at the village level. LGAP felt it was critical that this information be incorporated in the Area Plans, as significant consultations between sub-sub structures and the district had already taken place. ONSE provided support and encouraged the Health Advisory Committee and other community structures to provide inputs via the VDC, thereby building on previous USAID investments in district planning. District DCI Scores for Health Sector: Both the Local Authorities Performance Assessment (LAPA) and Citizen Perception Survey (CPS) contained metrics for assessing the effectiveness and legitimacy of local government service delivery in the health sector. The pilot of the LAPA included seven questions on district performance in the health sector, while the CPS asked citizens three questions on their views on satisfaction with health services. Questions of effectiveness, vis-à-vis the LAPA, centered around two thematic areas. Questions on standards focused on formal adherence to national health standards in terms of the existence of key documents, district and sub-district sector structures, availability, access, and quality of health services. Questions on performance focused on functional service delivery in the health sector. Generally, LGAP districts performed well only on the questions related to existence of key documents and guidelines. On questions related to the functionality of district sub-structures, and technical performance (availability of medicines, disease treatment, ART retention, and other key health indicators) the districts scored poorly, with the exception of Blantyre. LGAP has previously reported on the results of the CPS (legitimacy) by sector. One of the key questions for the DCI that LGAP was interested in was whether there would be a correlation between citizens’ perception of service delivery and the district’s self-assessment of its own performance. As with the education data, while the dataset is too small for rigorous statistical analysis (n=8 districts), very rudimentary analysis shows no statistical correlation between the two lenses of the index related to health. Throughout the CPS, citizens in Balaka reported the lowest levels of satisfaction, while again, neighboring districts rated satisfaction significantly higher, without any correlation to a higher LAPA scoring. Table 8: District Balaka Blantyre Kasungu Mbelwa Machinga Mulanje Lilongwe Zomba Legitimacy 3 6 6 6 7 6 7 6 (Total 12) Effectiveness 9 14 11 10 11 10 11 9 (Total 28) Total 40 (%) 12 20 17 16 18 16 18 15 (30%) (50%) (43%) (40%) (45%) (40%) (45%) (38%)
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AGRICULTURE Sector Support to Village Action Planning Agriculture Sector support to the VAP process came through two projects: SANE and NJIRA. In Balaka, Zomba, Blantyre, and Machinga, NJIRA supplied resource maps from previously conducted activities that gave geospatial information for previous investments in the sector at the village level. SANE gave guidance to the LGAP team at the national level, noting differences in capacity in the sector at the sub-structure level across LGAP districts. LGAP used this information to bring in NJIRA support in the Southern Districts where agricultural investments are the heaviest. District DCI Scores for Agricultural Sector: Both the Local Authorities Performance Assessment (LAPA) and Citizen Perception Survey (CPS) contained metrics for assessing the effectiveness and legitimacy of local government service delivery in the agricultural sector. The pilot of the LAPA included eight questions on district performance in the sector, while the CPS asked citizens two questions on their views on satisfaction with agricultural services. Questions of effectiveness, vis-à-vis the LAPA, centered around two thematic areas. Questions on standards focused on formal existence of documents including district agricultural development and whether food security plans and guidelines have district sub-structures according to national guidelines. Questions on performance focused on capacity for improved production yields in crop production, livestock production, fisheries and aquaculture production, and improved forestry management. All LGAP districts, except for Lilongwe, fared poorly on most of the effectiveness scores. LGAP has previously reported on the results of the CPS (legitimacy) by sector. One of the key questions for the DCI that LGAP was interested in was whether there would be a correlation between citizens’ perception of service delivery and the district’s self-assessment of its own performance. As with the other datasets, while the dataset is too small for rigorous statistical analysis (n=8 districts), very rudimentary analysis shows no statistical correlation between the two lenses of the index related to agriculture. In this case, unlike in others, citizens seemed to score district performance higher than the district’s own self-assessment. Table 9: District Balaka Blantyre Kasungu Mbelwa Machinga Mulanje Lilongwe Zomba Legitimacy 1 2 3 3 4 4 2 2 (Total 4) Effectiveness 9 9 9 15 8 9 22 8 (Total 32) Total 36 (%) 10 11 12 18 12 13 24 10 (28%) (31%) (33%) (50%) (33%) (36%) (67%) (28%)
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PART III: PROGRESS BY INDICATOR AND MONITORING AND EVALUATION
ACTIVITY PERFORMANCE MONITORING AND EVALUATION PLAN Monitoring and Evaluation Activity Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Plan In FY17, LGAP completed the development of the Activity Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Plan (APMEP). The APMEP consists of 5-year targets and identifies critical data sources for informing progress. This was a provisional approval since LGAP had not completed the baseline studies to inform target setting. APMEP is designed is to track LGAP progress in relation to its stated goal of: “Government accountability and effectiveness improved.” The thematic focus is to achieve that goal through creating demand from the citizens and supply from the government. Through the corresponding objectives, outcomes, and outputs of the project and its relation to the USAID/Malawi Country Development and Cooperation Strategy (CDCS), LGAP directly contributes to achieving the goal of USAID/Malawi’s CDCS for 2013–2018, Malawians’ Quality of Life Improved, by improving the conditions for responsive and accountable service delivery at levels closest to citizens. The LGAP project primarily supports the CDCS objectives DO3: “Citizens Rights and Responsibilities Exercised.” Monitoring and Evaluation Guidelines In order to track progress and provide benchmarks for program performance evaluation, LGAP developed a comprehensive M&E system that outlines the program’s monitoring tools, resources, procedures, and the documents necessary for providing programmatic direction toward achievement of its objectives. The system has developed appropriate data collection and compilation tools with attention to data quality and methods to achieve the set quality standards including sound data analysis and reporting procedures. The M&E system is set up is such a way that it serves the program managers with administrative reporting needs as well as helping stakeholders to follow implementation progress, unearth bottlenecks, and provide diagnosis of and solutions for the constraints. At the same time, the system ensures accountability of resource utilization while enhancing learning and knowledge management. The system also ensures uniformity in approaches of program implementation among all three LGAP zones supporting the eight districts. The M&E systems consist of four critical management information systems:
◼ USAID/LGAP indicator tracking system: DevResults is a USAID cloud-based indicator tracking system that has been developed and populated with project indicators.
◼ Standard data assessment and questionnaires: There are four standardized data tools. a) MLGRD Local Authority Performance Assessment, b) Citizen Perception Survey questionnaire c) LGAP standardized data collection tools, and d) pre-and post-training questionnaires.
◼ Milestone monitoring tracker: The annual approved work plan will be tracked through Microsoft Project using agreed milestones.
◼ Standard operating protocols: To guide the implementation of the M&E systems. Collaboration, Learning and Adaptive Management (CLA) Strategy In FY17, LGAP developed a Collaborative, Learning and Adaptive (CLA) strategy. The strategy is in line with the ADS Chapter 201 of USAID CLA policy. Although CLA is not new to DAI, within LGAP they have not happened regularly or systematically and were not deliberately resourced. The central function of the LGAP CLA is to ensure that progress toward local government development objectives is guided by continuous learning through analysis of a wide variety of information and knowledge, including M&E data, innovations, and collected observations from those with particularly deep or
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unique insight in a given area, and iterative adaptation of program implementation and, where relevant, strategic. The intent is to continuously assess the causal pathway to desired outcomes and adjust activities as necessary to yield the most effective course of action. CLA is a key component of the program cycle and involves:
◼ Collaborating: Working with others where it makes sense to avoid duplication of efforts and outdated practice, increasing synergy, and sharing knowledge about what works and what doesn’t.
◼ Learning: Drawing on evidence and experience to develop strategies and design programs that are grounded in good practice and tailored to the local context.
◼ Adapting: Making iterative course corrections during implementation to maintain relevance and accelerate the effectiveness of our assistance In advancing the strategy, LGAP had to date completed:
◼ Training of staff in political economy, which, in the context of LGAP, is understood as the study of how district governments are managed or governed, taking into account both political and economic factors. The knowledge and skills acquired has been used to inquire and understand council dynamics and adapt approaches.
◼ Annual program review in Mzuzu. LGAP facilitated the review and learning for Year 1. The review was composed of MLGRD, NLGFC, MALGA, DHRMD, and eight council management units. The review discussed all LGAP result areas and identified service committees and revenue generation as critical components to focus in Year 2.
◼ The Inter-District Public Financial Management Learning and Sharing Forum. The National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC), in collaboration with LGAP, organized the forum to facilitate sharing of experiences, lessons, challenges, and solutions on issues affecting district councils pertaining to public finance management.
Geographical Information System (GIS) In FY17, a Geographical Information System (GIS) was developed using ESRI’s ArcGIS Desktop software, which has been procured and installed on the LGAP M&E computers. This system links performance data using the District Capacity Index (Effectiveness and Legitimacy), Integration index, and revenue generation in the local governments. Using the system, the districts and LGAP can now: ◼ Have a functional GIS geo-database, demarcating ADCs, VDCs, constituents, wards, and villages.
◼ See the location and distribution of all health facilities, primary schools, agriculture extension offices, and other service-related infrastructure.
◼ Link democratically elected councilors and members of parliament to wards/constituents.
◼ Visually link the District Capacity Index with council performance.
◼ Design interactive maps using Google earth for LGAP.
◼ Produce GIS maps for councils, wards, constituents, VDCs, ADCs, health facilities, schools, agriculture extension officers, USAID implementing partners, and other LGAP CSOs. Monitoring and Evaluation Plan for the Council with MLGRD In FY17, LGAP started the development of the MLGRD M&E Plan for the councils. The M&E plan will guide the development of council M&E frameworks in line with the district development plans (DDP). This initiative is in response to the institutional assessment report that highlighted weak M&E systems
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at the district level., which was evident by a lack of functional integrated M&E framework, leading to inadequate use of information and a non-functional data bank. In this regard, LGAP intends to support the development of the MLGRD M&E plan, district M&E frameworks linked to the DDP, and district M&E coordinating committees (DMEC) for effective coordination. This follows in-depth discussions with the DMEC. The key issues identified in the institutional assessment and DMEC meetings are outlined in Table 10. Table 10: Issue Action Point Inadequate involvement in budget performance In collaboration with the Finance Committee, tracking. This had led to delayed funding and ensure that council approved budgets performance implementation of activities as observed in the is tracked to inform implementation using the IFMIS. output-based program tracking. Inadequate budget for M&E activities. This has led to Lobby the council for the 10 percent ring-fenced unsustainable M&E at council and MLGRD levels. The budget for M&E. M&E activities are currently project driven. The best practice in M&E is 5-10 percent of the total budget. The current council M&E system is incomplete and is Develop a comprehensive M&E system in mostly project driven. The output-based program collaboration with the council. reporting is not adequate to strengthen informed Consolidate the council level indicators in readiness decision-making. The current system lacks outcome for the council M&E framework once the DDP is and impact indicators to measure changes within the completed. council. Lack of functional database. The council sector MLGRD should customize the EP&D databank to databanks are operational especially the DHIS2 and incorporate council strategic information needs and Education. The agriculture databank is still manual. It roll out a database to councils. was observed that agriculture has a lot of USAID and The integration coordinator should explore and link other donor supports who have developed a the agriculture sector with the USAID IPs on the database. databank. Lack of M&E and data personnel in sectors. The Long term: Functional review of the M&E staffing in council has a shortage of M&E and data staff to councils. effectively provide technical support to the council Short term: Engage temporary staff such as interns departments. to fill the gaps. Underutilization of functions in IFMIS. The IFMIS has Review the IFMIS modules with DMEC. several modules, but only the finance module is at Conduct capacity needs assessment for the DMEC least functional. team. Training of non-finance key staff in IFMIS functions, especially the project and finance modules. Identify reinforcement of use of IFMIS in all council transactions. Explore use of Interns to enter all data backlog. DMEC TORs requires review. Also most DMEC MLGRD should share and lead the process of members were not aware of the tasks that the DMEC reviewing the TORs at the council level. Some key is supposed to undertake. issues to be considered are the chairing of the DMEC and composition of the DMEC team. The team suggested that the partner M&E officers should be considered in the DMEC to ensure coordinated support. Inadequate record management systems. A functional In collaboration with LGAP, assess the record M&E system requires proper storage of indicator management facilities such as lockable cabinets. source documents, but the council lacks the storage facilities.
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Table 11: LGAP Data Performance Table from October 2016 to September 2017
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No. Performance Indicator Unit of Baseline FY17 FY17, FY17, Cumul. % Explanations Measure (May 2017) Target Q2 Q3 Actual Actual A-1 Percent of households satisfied with Percentage 30.5% 30.5% 30.5% 30.5% 30.50% 100% The data is obtained through Citizen Perception how district government consults Survey and the reporting is based on the baseline citizens. (CDCS indicator) findings. The follow up will be reported in FY18.
A-2 Composite District Capacity Index Score TBD This indicator will be updated once the LAPA baseline (DCI) (CDCS Indicator) is implemented and completed A-3 Composite score of Integration Index Score 0 20 A-4 Number of projects financed and Number 14 14 14 14 14 100% Councils continued with implementing the same implemented by district governments projects throughout the year, so reported under Q3. originating from district-led local Currently LGAP is supporting the review of the DDPs development planning process in eight districts and expects improvements in FY18. (Custom) Education 0 0 0 0 Health 0 0 0 0 Agriculture 0 0 0 0
Others (Public works) 14 14 14 14 100% R1.1 Own-source revenue as a percentage Percentage 7.8% 7.8% This indicator tracks locally generated revenue every of total district budget quarter. LGAP is yet to roll out impact evaluation activities at district level, hence not reported.
R1.2 Percentage of district budget entities Percentage 0% 50% This indicator will be reported based on the LAPA publishing budgets, audits, and reports findings in August 2017. to share budget performance (Custom) R1.3 Number of sub national entities Number 0 0 0 0 0 This indicator requires two datasets to demonstrate receiving USG assistance improvements. The first dataset will be available in demonstrating improved performance August 2017, so this indicator will be reported in FY18 (Custom) after follow up using LAPA. R1.4 Number of consensus-building forums Number 0 11 3 3 6 55% LGAP has implemented the DDP integration forum of (multi-party, civil/security sector, USAID IPs and LAPA consensus in FY17, Q3. In FY17, and/or civil/political) held with USG Q2, it implemented DC conference, MLGRD assistance (DR.3.1-1) Devolution plan and MALGA. Multi-party 0 0 0 0 0 Civil/security 0 0 0 0 0 Civil/political 0 11 3 3 6 55%
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R1.5 Number of sub-national entities Number 0 224 28 29 29 13% In FY17, Q3, LGAP mentored the councils in budget receiving capacity building assistance performance, reviewed in Blantyre and continued the during the reporting period (Custom) training and mentorship of the DEC or council management in HR payroll IFMIS. Full Council 0 8 0 1 1 DEC 0 8 28 28 28 AEC 0 89 0 0 0 ADC 0 89 0 0 0 CSO 0 30 0 0 0 VDC 0 0 0 0 0 R1.6 Number of technical activities jointly Number 0 32 0 1 1 3% LGAP is working with USAID implementing partners designed with cross sector partners in designing the DDP in the councils. In Q4, a number (Custom) of district-based integration activities have been planned. R2.1 Percentage of households in focus Percentage 64% 64% 64% 64% 64% 100% The data is obtained through Citizen Perception districts that understand roles of Survey, and the reporting is based on the baseline districts, ADCs, and VDCs (CDCS) findings. The follow up will be reported in FY18. R2.2 Number of citizens who participate in Number 0 5,340 0 0 0 0% The target is expected to be achieved in FY17, Q4 participatory planning processes through DDP activities. (Custom) R2.3 Number of mechanisms for external Number 0 8 0 0 0 0% With the implementation of the LAPA system in oversight of public resource use August, LGAP expects to achieve the target in FY17, supported by USG assistance (DR.2.4- Q4. 2) R2.4 Number of individuals receiving voter Number 0 0 0 0 0 This will be reported in FY18 and FY19 during election education through USG-assisted period. programs (DR.3.2-4) Male 0 0 0 0 0 Female 0 0 0 0 0 R2.5 Number of individuals receiving civic Number 0 5,887 0 0 0 0% This will be achieved in FY17, Q4. education through USG-assisted programs (DR.3.2-5) Male 2,894 0 0 0 0% Female 2,893 0 0 0 0% R2.6 Number of human rights organizations Number 0 30 0 0 0 0% This will be achieved in FY17, Q4. trained and supported (DR.4.2-1) Number of women's rights groups 14 0 0 0%
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Number of disability rights 8 0 0 0 0% organizations Number of youth rights organizations 8 0 0 0% R2.7 Number of civil society organizations Number 0 30 0 0 0 0% This will be achieved in FY17, Q4. (CSOs) receiving USG assistance engaged in advocacy interventions (DR.4.2-2) Number of women's rights groups 0 14 0 0 0 0% Number of disability rights 0 8 0 0 0 0% organizations Number of youth rights organizations 0 8 0 0 0 0% R2.8 Number of beneficiaries reached Number 0 320 0 39 39 12% LGAP has organized integration forums reaching 39 through joint cross-sector activities USAID implementing partners. Male 0 160 0 29 29 18% Female 0 160 0 10 20 13% R3.1 Number of policies to devolve Number 0 1 1 1 1 100% HR payroll policy implementation in 28 districts authority to district governments councils. being implemented with USG assistance (Custom) R3.2 Number of sectoral budgets being Number 9 9 9 9 9 100% managed by district governments (Custom) HR budget 0 9 0 0 0 0% Asset budgets 0 0 0 0 0 Development budget 9 9 9 9 9 100% R3.3 Number of policies regulations, and/or Number 0 11 3 13 13 118% HR payroll devolution policy, HR integrations, administrative procedures in stages of devolution plan, district development plans, local development as result of USG authority performance guidelines and local assistance (CDCS) government act review, taxation policy, and revenue generation reforms. National 0 3 0 5 5 167% Stage 1: Analyzed 0 1 0 1 1 100% HR integration policy. Stage 2: Drafted and presented for 0 1 3 1 1 100% LAPA guidelines produced. public/stakeholder consensus Stage 3: Presented for 0 2 0 2 2 100% Devolution Plan and Local Government Act. legislation/decree Stage 4: Passed/approved 0 0 0 0 0
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Stage 5: Passed and implementation 0 0 0 1 0 HR payroll devolution. has begun. Sub-National 0 8 0 8 0 0% Stage 1: Analyzed 0 0 0 8 0 Socio economic profiles have been produced in eight councils, which led to DDP development. Stage 2: Drafted and presented for 0 0 0 0 0 public/stakeholder consensus Stage 3: Presented for 0 0 0 0 0 legislation/decree Stage 4: Passed/approved 0 0 0 0 0 Stage 5: Passed and implementation 0 0 0 0 0 has begun. R3.4 Number of districts with completed Number 0 8 0 0 0 0% annual performance assessments (Custom) R3.5 Number of integration or cross- Number 0 9 2 6 8 89% In FY17, eight district-based integration forums will be cutting forums, joint work planning held, and the number of forums will increase by 20 activities, sector/technical working percent each year. groups held with USG assistance (Custom) National 0 1 2 1 3 300% Sub-National 0 8 0 5 5 63%
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Table 12: Challenges Challenges Action
Underreporting of M&E data, Assign dedicated financial data clerks in councils to enter especially financial data financial data. Compare councils from parallel system and NLGFC submitted to ensure similarities
Inadequate record management Support the maintenance of the integrated database. Support processes at council level councils with lockable cabinets to ensure safe keeping of records
Different levels of reporting Review the reporting dates and have data reported with one- timeliness with the council month lag
Inadequate knowledge and skills Mentoring and hands-on training of front line staff in PIRS and among LGAP staff in M&E M&E guide
Weak coordination and integration Capacity building of the District Monitoring and Evaluation of the district M&E Committee to support performance reporting and data use
Weak functioning of the IFMIS, Mentor and coach in IFMIS modules affecting data entry and leading to inaccurate reporting of reporting financial data
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PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION
STTA IN THE REPORTING PERIOD From October 2017 to December 2017, LGAP retained the services of the following STTA to support key programmatic deliverables and operations. Christine Chumbler provided support to the communications team to improve internal communications, support to the MLGRD on its IEC work, and external project communications. Ms. Chumbler prepared a revised internal communications strategy, success story, and two “pitches” for the USAID/Malawi competition. She also advised the team on IEC components including posters, billboards, slogans, jingles, and stickers. She provided feedback on the subsequently produced videos, highlighting LGAP’s work for an external audience, and also guided the team on photography and success story development.
STAFFING Recruitment efforts continued to be a main project priority during this reporting period. At the beginning of the period, the following positions were vacant: 1. Public Finance Management Specialist 2. Grants Specialist 3. Finance Specialist 4. Procurement Specialist 5. Communication Officer
Table 13 shows current staffing assignments.
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Table 13: DAI/LGAP Project Staff Members Name Post Start Date End Date Remarks
Virginia Chitanda Chief of Party 01/10/2016 23/08/2021 Active
Jeremy Keeton Technical Director Integration 01/10/2016 23/08/2021 Active
Alfred Kamphonje Deputy Chief of Party 01/11/2016 31/10/2018 Active
Brenda Kacheche Institutional Capacity Specialist 21/11/2016 20/11/2018 Active
Phaniso Kalua Technical Director PFM 01/07/2017 30/07/2018 Active
Chiliritso Gwaza Administrative Officer 01/11/2016 31/10/2018 Active
Addien Katawa Information Technology Officer 01/11/2016 31/10/2018 Active
Chisomo Milazi Administrative Assistant 21/11/2016 20/11/2018 Active
Macwilliam Shumba Driver 02/11/2016 01/11/2018 Active
Chrissy Maleyi Office Assistant 01/12/2016 30/11/2018 Active
Ernest Mlenga M&E Officer 05/12/16 04/12/2018 Active
Aaron Luhanga District Programme Manager (Centre & 07/12/16 06/12/2018 Active North)
Davie Chikoti Local Government Manager 03/01/17 02/01/2019 Active
Tapson Ndundu ME&L Director 23/01/16 22/01/2019 Active
Phaniso Kalua Technical Director- PFMA 01/02/2017 31/01/2018 Promoted to TD-PFM
Phunziro Ngaiyaye Accountant 01/03/17 28/02/18 Active
Bright Saka District Coordination Assistant - Kasungu 03/04/17 02/04/18 Active
Mtende Msendama District Coordination Assistant - Balaka 03/04/17 02/04/18 Active
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Name Post Start Date End Date Remarks
Jimmy Kwangwani Integration Coordinator - Blantyre 03/04/17 02/04/18 Active
Elton Edward Program Manager - Blantyre 03/04/17 02/04/18 Active
Dieckens Binali Integration Coordinator - Balaka 03/04/17 02/04/18 Active
Micheal Mwachilale Public Finance Management Specialist - 08/05/17 07/05/18 Active Lilongwe
Dennis Chikunkhuzeni Public Finance Management Specialist - 08/05/17 07/05/18 Active Blantyre
Christina Nyambalo Communication and Outreach Specialist 03/07/17 02/07/18 Active
Annie Jimu Integration Coordinator 03/07/17 02/07/18 Active
Chifundo Kasonga Project Driver - HO 03/07/17 02/07/18 Active
Davie Simale Project Driver - Blantyre 03/07/17 02/07/18 Active
Benjamin Phiri Project Driver - Kasungu 03/07/17 02/07/18 Active
Edwin Msewa Social Accountability Manager 03/07/17 02/07/18 Active
Victor Lowe Project Driver - HO 17/07/17 16/07/18 Active
Abby Masikamu Project Driver - Blantyre 01/08/17 31/07/18 Active
Tisungane Nanthoka Institutional Development Coordinator - 01/08/17 31/07/18 Active Balaka
Hentry Mwale Institutional Development Coordinator - 01/08/17 31/07/18 Active Kasungu
Jessie Njikho District Coordination Assistant 01/08/17 31/07/18 Active
Gerlad Mmelo Project Driver 02/10/17 01/10/18 Active
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Name Post Start Date End Date Remarks
Frank Zoto Programme Manager - Balaka 02/10/17 01/10/18 Active
Alfred Kaliwo Infrastructure Specialist 02/10/17 01/10/18 Active
Winston Khamula Decentralization Manager 03/10/17 02/10/18 Active
Frank Chikamba Finance Specialist 23/10/17 22/10/18 Active
David Ng’onamo Procurement Specialist 06/11/17 05/11/18 Active
Alice Makhambera Public Finance Management Specialist- 15/11/17 14/11/18 Active Lilongwe
Mike Chipala Communication Officer 04/12/17 03/12/18 Active
Georgina Kauye Receptionist/Administrative Clerk 02/01/18 01/01/19
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ANNEX 1: SELECTED CASES DEMONSTRATING PROGRESS IN PFM AT THE DISTRICT LEVEL LGAP continues to provide support to Councils through mentoring and hands on support. During the quarter, 5 districts were brought together to facilitate learning and reflection on the achievements being registered through the various processes. The following are some of the tangible demonstration on some of the successes comparing the current situation versus the period before LGAP intervened.
BALAKA DISTRICT COUNCIL Impact of Donor Interventions Toward Financial Management in Balaka • Before the implementation of the council’s decentralization policy in the council, sectors in Balaka had been operating in isolation especially in the areas of finance. • Before the LGAP interventions, the council’s financial reporting was behind by two years i.e. 2014- 2015, 2015-2016. Once, as the council said, it was “privileged to receive strong support from LGAP” that brought the finance sections together.
Table 14 summarizes the achievements after donor (LGAP) support in financial management in Balaka
Table 14:
Source: Report presented during PFM Learning and Sharing meeting
BLANTYRE DISTRICT COUNCIL Overview of Council Financing in Blantyre District Council
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Blantyre District Council continues to rely on Central Government Transfers as a major source of financing, contributing 95% of the annual budget. The 2017/2018 approved budget for the council stands at MK7,531,684,019. Central government transfers are projected at MK7,147,684,019 while locally generated revenue stands at MK384,000. Figure 7:
Status of Staffing Capacity in Directorate of Finance at Blantyre District Council Currently the Blantyre District Council Directorate of Finance establishment has 51 positions. An additional staffing requirement was also created for the Revenue Division for 27 positions, which were dully approved by the council. A total of 78 positions are available vs 26 positions filled. Rationalization of staff in the Directorate is critical for successful function of the department. Training initiatives both long and short are paramount to equip the existing staff.
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MACHINGA DISTRICT COUNCIL Table 15:
MULANJE DISTRICT COUNCIL Achievements with Support from LGAP • Preparation and submission of financial reports for three years. The council needed financial resources for it to clear the backlog of the financial reports, and LGAP assisted. • Timely processing of all transactions in IFMIS. Apart from not utilizing the IFMIS modules fully due to understaffing and skills gaps, sometimes the council would process payments outside the system due to frequent blackouts. This affected timely preparation of consolidated monthly reports. LGAP supported the council with the generator. In addition to this, LGAP has also supported the council with five computers. • Training of the finance service committee to improve the capacity of the members in discharging their oversight role over financial management and accountability in the council. • Establishment of a revenue division to enhance local revenue collection and management. • On Financial reporting and management, Mulanje District Council had a backlog of bank reconciliation dating back to 2013, but since June 2017, LGAP has supported the council in doing the following; o Clean the cash books in IFMIS and clear out the backlog of bank reconciliations o Pre-audit and file the ORT vouchers serially o Prepare 2016-17 financial statements
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Table 16: Outlook of Donor Funding from July to November 2017
Table 17: Locally Generated Revenue Collection for 2016-17
Challenges or Limitations from Market Establishments in Mulanje The council stated that it is under-collecting for the following reasons; • Inadequate monitoring and supervision because they perceive that the costs mostly outweigh the benefits. • Low capacity of revenue collectors who need close monitoring in all the council’s 31 markets. • Failure to plough back 25 percent of the revenue collection for community development. This results in resistance by the market users to pay the market fees. • Absence of council by-laws, which restrict the council from taking legal action against defaulters. • Inadequate space in the market, which has forced vendors to trade in undesignated areas where the owners collect fees at the expense of the council.
ZOMBA DISTRICT COUNCIL • As directed by the accountant general, all the staff are operating under one roof. This arrangement has enabled the capacity gaps in terms of numbers of staff to be substantially reduced. • The Directorate of Finance has a total of 25 officers, with most of the senior positions filled. The council has a chief accountant, principal accountant (DEM) and accountant (DHO). • Zomba District Council was one of the first five councils that piloted the use of IFMIS at the local council level. Building upon this success, government rolled out the Selenic Navigator to the rest of the council in phases. • In all years, the usage of the system has been partial. The dominant modules are the Financial Management and Reporting, Procurement, and Revenue Management.
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• The modules requiring attention are Project Management, Fleet Management, and Stores Management. • Since 2015/16, the council has made efforts to draft all the bank accounts into the system. This has enabled reconciliation to be done in the system.
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ANNEX 2: SUCCESS STORY
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Elections for Market Committees Empowers Communities
Building Local Democracy Democracy is often easiest to see closest to home. This is the idea behind an activity being managed by USAID’s Local Government Accountability and
Performance (LGAP) program. In eight districts across Malawi, the LGAP proper farming practices team is working with District Councils to elect and train committees to run
pays off local markets, the hubs of communities in this small Southern African nation.
Traditionally, markets have been informally organized, with vendors selling
vegetables, clothing, or other goods on tarps or under rough shelters. They are dusty in the dry season and muddy during the rains. District Councils have started to make improvements such as building formal market stalls and toilets, but they need the help of vendors to identify the greatest needs. In the past, “there hasn’t been enough contact between the councils and the vendors,” explains Ernest Mlenga, LGAP’s monitoring, evaluation, and learning specialist who is managing the market election activity. He says that market committees made up of vendors have been present in many communities, but District Councils haven’t invested in them. “Vendors felt left out.” LGAP is stepping in to help build lasting relationships between market “I am happy to be committees and District Councils, providing training on the roles and elected as the chairman responsibilities on both sides. But the first step is holding elections for for this market committee members. LGAP and District Council staff members visit markets and gather the committee. At this vendors, who then nominate male and female candidates for the positions of market, we do not have committee chair, vice chair, secretary, and treasurer. For each position, the essential facilities like candidates are blindfolded and vendors cast their votes by lining up behind their preferred candidate, without the influence of council staff. “We have toilets, running water. I our rights to vote for whoever we want,” says Beyadi Simali, a vendor at the will work with the Malosa market in Machinga District. “We don’t expect our authorities to impose on us whom we should vote for.” council to make sure The market committee management process helps build both an that these are provided understanding of democratic processes and a sense of responsibility. “If using the market funds vendors feel they have a role, they are more likely to pay their fees,” says Mlenga. “The council may then see increased revenue and the vendors may that we collect here.” be more satisfied with the whole process.” Mr. Kantedza, newly elected Nellia Mwale, the newly elected secretary for Checkpoint Market in chair of Checkpoint Market in Kasungu District, says she will take her new responsibility seriously. “I and Kasungu District my fellow committee members will make sure that we are providing the necessary information to our council so that we can serve our people . better.”