The government through the ministry of gender, community development and social welfare says it is committed in the work against violation of children’s rights, but stresses that the work needs collaborative efforts.
According to Gender Minister,Jean Sendeza, the main problem that has been there for a long time is that different Non-Govermental organizations work in isolation without coordinating with others who are also fighting for the same goal.
She said this is not good because as a country,the elimination of the vice needs to hold hands and work together.
She was speaking during the 2023 commemoration of the world day of prayers for children which was held in Lilongwe.
“We need to show happiness, love as well as hope as we are praying for the good life for all the children here in Malawi. This is a great day for all of us as we are meditating on the relevance of having these children and that it is important to be praying for them. Each and every day we are witnessing cases of child abuse, my beloved fellow Malawians this is not our tradition we used to have in the past and we must refrain from these malpractice.
“Am calling upon all stakeholders that when we are implementing various projects aiming at eliminating child violations we should coordinate for the impact to be seen at large, as President Lazarus Chakwera urge us to unite when doing things,” she said.
Director of advocacy at World Vision international Charles Gwengwe said as one of the implementing partners in the fight against violation of children rights, World Vision international is committed to ensure that they are fulfilling their commitments in order for the children to gain what they are supposed to be given in all the projects they have lined up.
“Children need much support, you know this is a vulnerable group which needs special attention and we never know the one whom we are abusing today may turn out to be the next minister of gender, everything is possible, so we need to show love and compassion to these young ones at all cost,” Gwengwe said.
Masona Tembo Kaluluma, moderator of Nkhoma Synod also concurred with Gwengwe saying they are just fulfilling what God started in the old testament as he is showing compassion about children and that they will make sure that all commitments are being fulfilled to help children to grow with good manners.
World Vision international, UNICEF as well as the Nkhoma Synod of the C. C. A. P collaborated during this day of commemoration of the world day of prayers in order to disseminate information on issues to do with the violation of children’s rights.
The prayers were held under the theme: Faith leaders; let’s unite to protect children from all forms of violence.
Lumbadzi Police says it has put in place all the necessary measures to fight against crime during the festive season.
The station recently engaged different stakeholders to strategize on how to combat crime in the township and beyond as people celebrate Christmas and New year.
Micklina Mtanthiko Medi
Speaking during the community policing meeting, the station’s officer in-charge Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police Micklina Mtanthiko Medi said community policing is crucial in the fight against crime especially during the festive season when the crime rate escalates.
She said: “My office will intensify both foot and vehicle patrols with community policing members in mounting snap roadblocks and deploy both uniformed and civilian officers on the ground.”
In his remarks, Station Executive Committee chairperson, Michael Phiri said the meeting will help bring sanity at the trading center and the sorrounding communities.
A Malawi Congress Party (MCP) diehard from Mvera area in Dowa district Rodgers Kamphangala, has called for all political parties in Malawi to go for factory setting so that they have fresh applications to the office of Director of Political Parties in Malawi.
Kamphngala suggests that almost all political parties in Malawi are swallowed by the main political parties MCP and DPP observing that corruption in government cannot end because these swallowed parties have no say in government only clapping hands at nonsense.
He says all political parties must align their objectives to match with vision 2063 observing that at the time of the formation of these existing political parties MCP, UDF and DPP there was no vision 2063 and as a result they are only promoting self-interests in government.
The MCP diehard observes with a great concern over the divisions that have rocked the DPP as evidenced with court injunctions against injunctions saying this is speaking for itself that democracy is under threat in Malawi and is being killed.
He says Article 10 of the DPP Constitution of 2018 is very clear that the President shall have power to assign a member of the National Governing Council (NGC) to any public or political office wondering where members that are being assigned other duties are obtaining court injunctions to stop the President from acting his powers.
Kamphangala says it is the wish of all Malawians to see to it that democracy is being sustained in Malawi but the way things are moving in the DPP is questionable that some other people have one agenda of killing the main opposition DPP through the courts.
He further observes that Chapter 4 of the Republican Constitution provides a clause for freedom of association meaning that people have all the rights reserved to join a political party of their choice or else forming their parties wondering why some other people are still clinging to remain in the DPP through court injunctions as if at the time of their entry they paid membership fee.
“DPP has a large following in Malawi, this is the time for them to form their own political party or join the MCP other than working tirelessly to kill the hard-won democracy for the DPP to end like curtains on the wall,” says Kamphangala.
Prominent politician Ken Msonda who is a member of the National Governing Council (NGC) committee former ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has proved that there are no permanent enemies in politics after declaring his support to Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika.
Ken Msonda has been regarded as the strongest critic of Mutharika making many Malawians linking him to have joined the MCP led government alongside others such as Kondwani Nankhumwa, Grezelder Jeffrey, Nicholas Dausi, among others.
Ken Msonda
Msonda has all the time been in the camp of DPP led by Kondwani Nankhumwa supporting injunctions against injunctions stopping the DPP from moving forward and it was not surprising that many Malawians suspected DPP B as funded by the MCP led government.
Speaking at the start of the DPP NGC meeting held in Mangochi on Wednesday, visibly angry Professor Mutharika, said some of the members of the Party are insulting him everyday especially Ken Msonda telling him openly that he is not a member of the DPP.
Mutharika told the meeting that Msonda came from the Peoples Party (PP) to destroy the DPP inviting him that if he did not like the DPP, he should go back to PP where he belonged with an advice to him, not to destroy the DPP.
“You are not even a member of DPP, if you don’t like this party, go back to the PP where you belong to,” he said.
Ken Msonda thanked Professor Mutharika for being so loving and caring father saying all Malawians had been waiting forwards the holding of the NGC meeting observing that had it been that Mutharika was someone, he could not allow the NGC meeting to take place because of the insults which were directed to him everyday.
He appealed to all DPP members to forget about the past and start focusing on the future arguing that no political party can win elections with a divided house saying with Mutharika’s confirmation that he will stand at the elective conference, the DPP will bounce back into government in 2025.
On the claims that he should go back to his former party-PP, Msonda said he has been in MCP, UDF, and DPP saying he has no point of turning back, his party is DPP and will contest for the position of the party’s Vice President for the North.
The World Food Programme (WFP) launched a partnership with the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), a CGIAR Research Center, at COP28 on December 8. The partnership will support private-sector innovators who are scaling climate-smart solutions across food, land and water systems in fragile and conflict-affected communities in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and South America, as part of the CGIAR Initiative on Fragility, Conflict and Migration (FCM).
The CGIAR FCM Innovation Accelerator will be implemented jointly by the WFP Innovation Accelerator and IWMI. The ultimate purpose of this collaboration is to demonstrate how the WFP Innovation Accelerator and CGIAR can jointly leverage their expertise and resources to rapidly scale innovations that promote the resilience of food, land and water systems and social inclusion in fragile and conflict-affected settings (FCAS), including situations with high migration. Partnerships with the private sector, civil society, development partners and research partners will be fostered to encourage the long-term sustainability of innovations. The accelerator will develop collective experience and knowledge in leveraging private sector resources in the design and scaling of innovations in FCAS and build the skills of local innovators.
The objective of the program will be to accelerate eight innovations that can deliver tangible impact to strengthen the resilience of communities in FCAS through the provision of financial, technical, business and investment readiness coaching, as well as marketing skills.
WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian organization saving lives and changing lives. Building on WFP’s legacy of innovation, the WFP Innovation Accelerator was launched in 2015 to identify, support and scale high-potential solutions to reach zero hunger and address the sustainable development goals (SDGs) by connecting them with WFP’s global network in over 120 countries and territories. The WFP Innovation Accelerator will oversee the operational execution of the FCM Innovation Accelerator Program, leveraging its existing best practices, processes and track record of scaling ventures, in-house grant management, curriculum design and event delivery expertise.
“This partnership shows WFP and CGIAR’s commitment to an innovative, sustainable future. WFP’s climate action prioritizes supporting vulnerable communities in fragile areas. Through our joint ‘Fragility, Conflict and Migration Programme’ with CGIAR, we are looking forward to enabling climate-affected communities to scale their solutions and become climate-resilient” said Bernhard Kowatsch, Head of WFP Innovation Accelerator.
Meanwhile, the CGIAR — as the world’s largest publicly-funded group of agrifood systems research centers — possesses a vast network of expertise, resources, research findings, and capacity. CGIAR will contribute with the definition of challenge areas via a market assessment, coordinate partner network participation, contribute to the selection of teams, and avail technical CGIAR scientists to support selected innovations to generate empirical research which will be incorporated into one results report per team.
A science-based methodology has been developed and validated under the World Bank-funded project called ‘Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa’ (AICCRA). Its agribusiness acceleration models have proven to be highly successful in supporting innovation scaling as well as agribusiness growth, so much so that IWMI has adapted the model for fragile and conflict-affected settings, now being implemented through the Fragility, Conflict and Migration Innovation Accelerator.
The FCM Innovation Accelerator will issue a series of calls for applications, which will be launched in 2024 and 2025. The first call will focus on four countries in Africa and the Middle East Jordan, Nigeria and Yemen. Subsequent calls will focus on Asia and South America. Innovations will focus on water, risk and resilience, anticipatory action, refugee and host communities; migration, mobility and displacement, digital solutions; and crop production, agricultural value and supply chains, sustainable intensification, livestock, food markets.
“So far, the market potential for private sector innovation to increase resilience and catalyze sustainable development in fragile and conflict-affected settings has remained widely untapped,” said Hauke Dahl, Scaling Lead for East and Southern Africa at IWMI. “Our new partnership intends to spotlight these agents of change and to become a benchmark for sustainable development in the humanitarian, development, peace nexus.”
In addition to joining hands to elevate the voices of affected humanity, Sandra Ruckstuhl, Senior Researcher at IWMI and FCM Co-Lead, asserted the need to showcase solutions at COP28 from development finance, agricultural research, and the humanitarian sector to catalyze investments into African food, land, and water systems. She added that their collaborative session will also strive to address systemic issues related to access to finance for green entrepreneurship in Africa.
Public and private stakeholders—including members of the press—are invited to join the session “Partnerships that mobilize investments for climate-resilient food systems in fragile and conflict-affected regions” on Friday, 8 December 2023 from 18:30 to 19:30 Gulf Standard Time at the Food and Agriculture Pavilion (B7, 89), which will also be livestreamed.
