The Dowa District Council has called upon partners implementing their various interventions in the district to work as one for the communities to benefit and take the projects as their own for sustainability purposes.
The call was made by the Councils Director of Education, Youth and Sports in the Ministry of Education Christopher Kumikundi who emphasized on the need to implement projects in the spirit of transparency and accountability.
He said it is the wish of the council to see to it that budget line for projects both for government and Civil Society Organizations [CSOs] must be known to the communities they are serving for them to develop ownership of the projects.
Speaking during a District executive committee [Dec] meeting held at the boma on Thursday, Kumikundi expressed sadness that some partners are not comfortable to disclose budget line for their projects describing this development as lacking openness in the running of projects.
Kumikundi reminded partners that the resources they write project proposals come in the name of the Dowa communities hence a great need for the communities to know how much was pumped into the projects for accountability and transparency.
….’’Let there be openness for both public and private projects being implemented in our district for the good of the communities we are serving,’’…he said.
In his remarks, the Councils Acting Director of Planning and Development Yusuf Laki, reminded partners to sign Memorandum of Understandings [MoUs] one for the council and the other for CSO Network of the district saying this helps to enhance cooperation, transparency and accountability on the projects being implemented in the district.
Laki said new projects will be presented to the Dec meeting by the Secretary of the Technical Working Group as stakeholders of the project and after the Dec has approved the project, letters of introduction will be presented as a proof to the Area Development Committee [ADC] that the council is aware of the organization.
Dowa district has over 35 Civil Society Organizations [CSOs] implementing projects in all the areas of seven Traditional Authorities of the district with most of them found in the western side of the district because it is flat as compared to the eastern side which is hilly and mountainous with impassable roads and bridges.
