Council for Non-Governmental Organisations in Malawi- CONGOMA was on 22 and 23 January 2020 participated in the Learning and Sharing workshop organised by Tilitonse Foundation at Crossroads Hotel in Lilongwe. The workshop drew together all Tilitonse Foundation’s Grant Partners across the country, Right Minded Organisations, Media Practitioners and Development Partners.
As learning and sharing are key components of knowledge management and communication, the workshop’s key focus areas included; sharing programmes, critical review of strategies and approach used, sharing best practices and success stories, engaging Tilitonse Foundation staff, and influencing the implementation of Governance prospects.
CONGOMA was fit to participate in the workshop as the organisation is currently implementing a public monitoring project branded Civic Participation in Public Procurement for better Public Resource Allocation (CPPP-BPRA) which is being carried out in three Districts namely; Balaka, Lilongwe and Rumphi with financial support from Tilitonse Foundation.
Speaking at the event, Board Chairperson for the foundation Desmond Kaunda said the Learning and Sharing activity organised signifies that Tilitonse Foundation has reached a point to showcase achievements for the past 10 months.
“We are here to learn and share experiences of grant partners and what they have achieved after receiving financial support from Tilitonse Foundation”, explained Kaunda.
He further said, the workshop would provide an opportunity to share stories, challenges and find out how others have overcome the challenges. In addition, he said the workshop would also serve as a point of reflection on what has been achieved in the process.
Addressing the gathering, Chief Executive Officer for Tilitonse Foundation Robert White added that the event would help Organisations learn and share experiences from right minded Organisations and avoid duplication of interventions
White further said, the workshop would also help to network, share ideas and contacts for further engagements. Adding more, he said the interaction would provide a platform for further support from other partners.
He therefore called everyone to be open minded and unpack experiences and where necessary critic one another.
From the participants, the workshop was very important as grant partners shared best practices, challenges and how they managed to overcome the challenges along the way in both programming and finance.
Commenting on this, Glory Chumbi from Find Your Feet Organisation shared that their experience working in Rumphi and Likoma with Tilitonse Foundation support had been rewarding and challenging at the same time. She said the project made them more visible in hard to reach areas such as Likoma and registered impact. She said community structures have been empowered to track project implementation in areas of Constituency Development Fund – CDF and Local Development Fund – LDF as they are the only ones operating in the District.
“At first the Area Development Committees were not functional but after trainings with support from Tilitonse Foundation, the ADCs have started engaging the Council and started to participate and follow up on issues concerning implementation of LDF, DDF and CDF projects. We are happy that community structures are ably tracking projects from the Council. There were a number of projects that had come to a standstill for example, an administrative block at the council and unfunctional Telecentre for the youth. It is pleasing that now the Council has resumed the construction of such projects. In summary we can say that community structures have started holding duty bearers accountable, and that has facilitated active participation among the citizenry in different project implementation” highlighted Chumbi.
Coming to CONGOMA’s experience under CPPP-BPRA project, some lessons shared include creation of platforms where rights holders and duty bearers interact on issues of public procurement and disposal of assets at district and national levels, as well as establishment of formal working relationships with primary public duty bearers to engage and influence public procurement and disposal of assets policy, practice and process.
The workshop was spiced up by exhibition of materials and productions from recent projects funded by Tilitonse Foundation. Some of the Tilitonse’s Grant Partners who were involved during the exhibition are CONGOMA, SRHR Africa Trust (SAT), Development Communication Trust (DCT), Nkhadze Alive Youth Organisation (NAYORG), Centre for Environmental Policy & Advocacy (CEPA), and National Initiative for Civic Education (NICE).
Tilitonse Foundation provided financial support to 16 grant partners with 11 Organisations under open call and 5 ones under thematic call (Urban Governance).