A non-governmental organisation has launched a project which seeks to promote accountability and improve service delivery for residents of the commercial city of Blantyre.
The one-year project -Building an active citizenry for accountable and transparent urban governance in Blantyre City- is being implemented with funds from Tilitonse Foundation.
Speaking during the project briefing with the Blantyre City Council Management and other stakeholders, CYO’s Executive Director, Harvey Chimaliro, said they thought of coming up with the project following the Political Economy Analysis (PEA) that was conducted in all urban areas including Blantyre.
He said through the analysis they noted a number of challenges such as excessive political interference, weak community participatory structures, lack of effective engagement between elected officials, among others hindering good service delivery.
“We looked into these issues and thought of coming up with a project that will increase capacity of citizens and local governance structures to actively promote citizens’ engagement in democratic governance and upholding citizens’ rights and responsibilities towards improved service delivery,” he said.
Acting Chief Executive Officer for Blantyre City Council, Costly Chanza, welcomed the project describing it as a milestone towards improving accountability and service delivery in the city.
“It is a nice project which will help this city, It’s our sincere hope that it will bring the change,” he said.
The project is being financed to the tune of Mk12.7 million and it is expected to be completed in January next year.
