T/A Kawere hails NCA/DCA for promoting access to portable water in Mchinji

NCA/DCA joint country Program’s TRANSFORM project has been hailed for improving access to portable water among communities in Mchinji district.

Over 5 thousand people who do small scale farming have already been reached with the shallow wells that are being constructed by the implementer of sub-project, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) which is under TRANSFORM project, Assemblies of God Care (AG-CARE).

AG-CARE’s project manager, Takondwa Phanga has told us waterbone diseases were common in past among people from four Traditional authorities under Chiwotcha, Mkanda and Mikundi Extension Planning Areas (EPAs) before the new wells which have to address them.

“Access to clean water has been a challenge here. So, to ensure that household hygiene is improved, we thought of rehabilitating some water sources,” he said.

One of beneficiaries of the project, Traditional authority Kawere said he is contented with the hygienic and sanitation improvements his area has registered.

He has since called on stakeholders to sustain current projects for safety of his subjects.

Making overall comment on the project, NCA/DCA Joint Country Program’s head of programmes, Paul Mmanjamwada expressed hope that communities will be able to sustain what they have been provided with.

“We built the capacity of communities in various aspects of the project ranging from production , nutrition and access to markets to make sure that the project is sustained. Private sector engagement has been key to make sure that farmers have readily available  markets after production.

“Government involvement in the project is also crucial to make sure that the project is linked to extension services even after 2025,” he said.

The project which is getting support from Royal Norwegian Embassy is expected to come to an end in 2025.

“Currently we are focussing on achieving results for this project. We will assess the impact of the project in 2025 and we are yet to start discussions with our back donors whether to extend to other districts,” M’manjamwada concluded.