Dowa NGORA calls for coordination in project implementation

by in National

By Vincent Gunde

The Non-Governmental Organizations Regulatory Authority (NGORA) organized a stakeholders’ meeting between government sectors and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) implementing their various interventions in Dowa district.

NGORA organized the meeting from a background that in 2023/24 financial year, it held meetings with the District Council officials aimed at identifying key issues affecting the implementation and sustainability of NGO programs, one of it being lack of platforms for joint planning and feedback between NGOs and District Councils.

Daniel Kumbalika- Stakeholders must prioritize coordination in their meetings.



During the meeting, stakeholders discussed gaps in three critical areas namely, gaps in alignment of projects to the District Development Plan (DDP), monitoring and evaluation and sustainability of NGO work.

Briefing the stakeholders, NGORA’S District Monitoring and Analysis Officer for Dowa Daniel Kumbalika, encouraged stakeholders to be prioritizing coordination meetings because they will improve project implementation. 
Kumbalika said some key recommendations made during the meeting are to ensure that projects are aligned to the DDP, revamping the District Monitoring Evaluation Coordinating Committee (DMECC) to ensure that exit strategy of projects are discussed with relevant sectors before project implementation for sustainability purposes.
“NGORA has plans to be organizing coordination meetings between CSOs and District Council officials on quarterly basis through the NGO fund,” he said. 

Dowa District Council’s Director of Administration Thomas Mwafongo, informed the meeting that the council is finalizing the development of the new District Development Plan (DDP) which will be printed before the end of August, 2024 expressing hope that this will facilitate the alignment of projects to the council’s vision.

In his remarks, Dowa Civil Society Organizations Network Vice Chairperson George Kaunda, said the stakeholders meeting has revealed that the Technical Working Group (TWG) has less capacity to fulfill its obligation due to poor documentation of not reporting to relevant Directorate and Dec as well as it has less capacity to screen and monitor projects due to lack of funding.

Kaunda said these structures TWG and Dec are mandated to ensure coordinated and collaborated efforts among state actors and non-state actors for sustaining development programs which are being implemented in the district.

“The meeting among others, reiterated the importance of coordination, monitoring and evaluation of projects,” he said.

The Non-Governmental Organizations Regulatory Authority (NGORA) was established under the NGO Act 2001 with a mandate of registering and regulating the operations of all NGOs in Malawi.