By Vincent Gunde
The Dowa District Council has called for collaboration among partners implementing various interventions in the district for the benefit of the communities they are serving saying collaboration enhances cooperation, transparency and accountability.
The Council said if the district is developing, it is because of partners working together for the good of the communities saying all this is starting from sharing reports of the interventions they are implementing in the district.
Speaking through a District executive committee (Dec) meeting held at the boma, the Council’s Director of Planning and Development Mercy Mpakule, said without project reports, the council cannot track and measure the achievements made by partners in changing the livelihood of the people in the district.
Mpakule lamented that a number of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) are not complying to the request from the council to share quarterly or monthly project reports to the council describing this as worrisome development not only to the council but for sustainability of their projects.
She said billions of US Dollars are being pumped into the district for social deliveries but without partners submitting project reports to the council’s Monitoring and Evaluation section, is a clear indication that little or no work at all is being implemented in the district.
The DPD appealed to partners to improve in the way they are doing things observing that when their donors come, they go to the council for assistance so that the donors gain confidence with what they are doing with their US Dollars, Pounds and Euros.
She thanked partners who are submitting their project reports to the council that they are doing a commendable job calling for others to emulate the example set so that together with the council, they can win trust of the communities they are serving.
“Project reports helps to track what partners are doing in a particular locality in line with the District Development Plan,” said Mpakule.
During the meeting, Dowa Police Station’s Officer-in-Charge Armakio Daka, expressed his concern over Central Region Water Board (CRWB) failure to supply piped water to the residents surrounding Dowa boma for weeks now, claiming that the residents are fetching water from distant water sources.
Daka appealed to CRWB to consider their customers by making sure that they are being supplied with safe and portable piped water observing that when the water comes through the pipes, it is muddy looking in colour.
