By Vincent Gunde
The Dowa District executive committee (Dec) has approved Umodzi project; Promoting social cohesion and peace-building in the context of the refugee relocation exercise to be implemented by the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) at Dzaleka Refugee Camp in the district.
The project will be implemented for 5-month basing on the issues identified since refugees and asylum seekers arrivals at the Dzaleka Camp in the district through international durable solutions such as voluntary repatriation, local integration and resettlement.
Dzaleka Refugee Camp comes at the backdrop of the Luwani Camp in Mwanza which hosted over one million refugees who fled from Mozambique’s 16-year civil war between Frelimo and Renamo forces 1977 and 1992.
Luwani Camp was closed in 2007 then reopened in 2016 to house Mozambicans fleeing fresh conflict between Frelimo and Renamo forces and when peace allowed the Mozambicans to return home, Luwani Camp closed again in 2019.
Introducing the project to the District executive committee (Dec) in Dowa at a meeting held at the boma, CCJP’s National Programmes Coordinator Tuntufye Simwimba, said Dzaleka Refugee Camp was established in 1994 in response to the Rwandan Genocide in 1994 between the Hutus and Tutsi’s.
Simwimba said the Camp was designed to accommodate 10,000-12,000 people and now, it is supporting a population of 53,000 refugee and asylum seekers saying the population is keeping on growing -180 newborns and about 300 new arrivals every month.
He said Umodzi project will be implemented for 5- month with the objectives of providing a platform for dialogue to enhance social-cohesion, increasing public stakeholder’s awareness about human rights and conducting evidence-based advocacy on policy and legal reforms.
The coordinator said the project among other key interventions will strengthen community platforms for engagement, dispute resolution skills for community leaders, capacity building for traditional and religious leaders and media campaigns with Yetu Community Radio Station at the Dzaleka Camp.
“The project will use different approaches to achieve its intended outcomes such as conflict sensitive and human rights- based approaches, among others.” said Simwimba.
In his remarks, Acting District Director of Agriculture and Natural Resources for Dowa Martin Kamlomo, reminded partners implementing their interventions in the district to align their projects with the District Development Plan (DDP) saying this is a booklet which contain all the priority needs of the Dowa communities.
Kamlomo said it is also the requirement of the council to see to it that all partners have signed a Memorandum of Understandings (MoU) with the council and the CSO Network to enhance cooperation, transparency and accountability of projects as well as reporting to Dec on the projects progress in the district.
The 5-month Umodzi project by the CCJP which is a governance, advocacy and human rights arm of the Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM) will be implemented at the Dzaleka Camp in Dowa district with funding amounting to 40,000 Canadian Dollars (approximately M31 million).
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