Comic Relief representatives engaged CONGOMA on 26 May 2023  to appreciate CONGOMA responsibilities towards their stakeholders, the NGOs among other things.

Speaking at the meeting which took place at CONGOMA offices in Amina House, Lilongwe, Poonam D’ Cruze who was the leader of the delegation said, they wanted to visit CONGOMA because they recognize it as their partner in terms of working with NGOs on the ground. Comic Relief has partnered with the UK Government since 2009 to jointly fund projects across the Sub-Saharan Africa, helping to improve the lives of over 8.4 million people. They are working with Tilitonse Foundation in the Shift the Power Programme which aims to lead the way on building a more organic and people-led programme that shifts the power closer to communities by empowering and working with locally led organizations to create more tangible and sustainable change. Comic Relief visit to CONGOMA aimed to appreciate the policy formulation and monitoring, the common needs of NGOs from CONGOMA’s point of view, capacity building needs for NGOs and how Localization Agenda is going on in Malawi.

Council for NGOs in Malawi, CONGOMA Executive Director, Mr. Ronald Mtonga appreciated the visit and emphasized that it in the interest of CONGOMA to engage such partners as Comic Relief in the work that they do with NGOs in Malawi. He said as CONGOMA they have a coordination role that they are mandated by law to play over the NGOs and they need support to fulfill this mandate. Comic Relief is one of the partners that help with the work of NGOs in Malawi.

Speaking on the Tilitonse Foundation Shift the power Project, Mr. Mtonga said CONGOMA was involved from the word go so they are aware of the steps that Tilitonse is taking in implementing the programme.

The visit ended with an agreement from both sides that they should strengthen their partnership in order to achieve the change in development that they both intend to achieve in Malawi.