| 1.0 THE ORGANISATION |
| CONGOMA is a membership umbrella organization
for NGOs in Malawi with over 200 members comprising both indigenous
and international NGOs. The NGO Law, which was enacted in the
years under review, designates CONGOMA as the NGO co-coordinating
body in Malawi (Section 24 of the NGO Act No.3 of 2001). |
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| 1.1 MISSION STATEMENT |
| CONGOMA exists to motivate, enhance and
maximize the potential and actual impact of member NGOs in articulating
and implementing sustainable socio-economic development to reduce
poverty in Malawi through mutual support and networking with
all interested stakeholders. |
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| 1.2 VISION |
| CONGOMA is inspired by the vision of sustained
strong and vibrant Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) working
in a conducive and collaborative environment in which a culture
of accountability and good governance is entrenched and the
rights of every citizen are respected and promoted to reduce
poverty and enhance sustainable socio-economic development in
Malawi. |
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| 1.3 ROLES AND MANDATE |
| In a bid to achieve its vision and accomplish
its mission CONGOMA's mandate is: |
- To promote an enabling environment for NGO activities.
- To promote and facilitate co-ordination, collaboration
and co-operation between the NGO community, government,
donor community and commercial sector in Malawi.
- To further the standing of NGOs as competent, professional
and suitable agents of development.
- To support NGOs become institutionally strong.
- To assist NGOs carry out their functions effectively.
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| 1.4 CONGOMA'S GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT
STRUCTURE |
| The Constitution of CONGOMA has designated
the following structural arrangement, to facilitate effective
decision-making, transparency and accountability for such an
organization as CONGOMA. |
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| A: ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING |
| This is the highest policy making structure
of CONGOMA. It is held once every year, notwithstanding extra-ordinary
meetings, and brings together the general membership of CONGOMA.
The AGM is convened to transact crucial issues such as receive
annual reports, the financial reports and elect office bearers
at the end of specific term of office. |
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| B. BOARD OF TRUSTEES |
| These are elected office bearers who are
legally responsible for CONGOMA and have general oversight over
its activities. The Trustees, who serve on voluntary basis,
delegate to the Governing Council responsibility for overseeing
the implementation of policies and strategies set by the Annual
General Meeting and for the direction of day-to-day management
of CONGOMA. |
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| C. GOVERNING COUNCIL |
| It is responsible to the membership of
CONGOMA in respect of the good and efficient management of the
Organization. In order to reflect the ownership of the organization
by the members in the running of the organization, elections
of office bearers in the Council is for the members. To facilitate
its work there are sub-committees in Finance and Administration
and the Standards Committees. |
| (Refer to Appendix 1 for the list of members
in the Governing Council and its Committees). |
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| D. MANAGEMENT |
| The implementing arm of the organization
is the Management, which runs the Secretariat of CONGOMA. It
is made up of professionals who are recruited by the Governing
Council of CONGOMA. It is run under the leadership of the Executive
Secretary (Refer to Appendix for the Current Staff). |
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| 2.0 MEMBERSHIP |
| There is a growing recognition of the
important role of CONGOMA and the need to belong the NGO family.
This has been seen by the increase in membership in CONGOMA.
Members are obliged to pay membership affiliation fees, which
help the Secretariat in its, operations. The local members pay
affiliation fees of MK12, 000 and MK24, 000 for international
members. What is unique in the increased membership is that
the majority of these are local NGOs, a further commitment by
the local organizations to see a successful NGO sector coordination
in the country. |
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| 3.0 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETINGS 2001-2002 |
| The annual general meeting for the year
under review was held on 26-27 and 14 December 2001 at the Worldwide
Church of God in Blantyre. The AGM considered a report from
Secretariat on its operations, membership fees, audited accounts
for 2000, and conducted elections for all the office bearers
in the Board of Trustees, Governing Council and its Standing
Committees and elections of candidates for appointment into
the NGO Board. |
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| 4.0 APPOINTMENT OF THE NGO BOARD |
| The NGO Act provides for the appointment
of seven members, at least three of whom shall be women, appointed
by the Minister in consultation with CONGOMA. |
| In order to effectively facilitate this
consultative process, the matter was brought before the 2001
Annual General Meeting. At this meeting 10 members were elected
to provide a list from which final appointment of the seven
would be made. The final is the current NGO Board: |
- Mr. Jarvis Chakumodzi -SAMARITAN TRUST
- Mr. Jones Laviwa - CARD
- Mr. Marcel Chisi - AYISE
- Mr. Hastings Chunga - WWB
- Mrs. Nellie Nyang'wa - OXFAM
- Mrs. Dunia Chirambo - Concern Universal
- Mrs. Grace Maseko - Cheshire Homes
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| 5.0 PROGRAMS OF CONGOMA 2001-2002 |
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| 5.1 CAPACITY BUILDING |
| Under capacity building CONGOMA continued
to offer services to NGOs who do not have fully fledged office
services such as photocopying and communication facilities.
Further to that some NGOs who are not fully established needing
office space, CONGOMA has provided office space within its building.
In yet another development, CONGOMA successfully concluded a
partnership agreement on the South-South NGO Staff Exchange
program and again in the year under review CONGOMA has successfully
concluded a grant agreement with NORAD/SIDA aimed at Institutional
Development support. |
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| A. NGO STAFF EXCHANGE PROGRAM |
| The NGO community in Malawi has an opportunity
to build capacity through a staff exchange program. While in
the past the dominant feature of staff exchange programs has
been the North-South flow, a new mechanism for practical sharing
of experiences as well as building consensus and capabilities
within NGOs now exists through the South-South -North Staff
Exchange program. |
| The initiative to promote the South-South
Staff Exchange and a South-North flow of staff was born out
of recognition that NGOs in the South have a lot to learn from
each other since they share identical mandates, perform identical
functions and face similar challenges. |
| The programme is initially to be implemented
in Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. It will be implemented
in two phases. The first phase involves staff exchange from
umbrella and network organizations in order to better prepare
and position these country partnerships to facilitate the programme.
The second phase will focus on staff exchanges between member
organizations in the South and between member organizations
in the South and Northern Partners. The focus of the programme
is futuristic by investing in upcoming and under-utilized human
capital. As such it mainly focuses on the youth, women, conflict
management and information technology. The co-operating Partner-FREDSKORPSET,
in the program shall meet the total cost of the programme. The
costs include financial support to the participating individuals,
at home and in partner country as well as financial support
to sending and receiving institutions. |
| The specific objectives of the programme
include: |
- To provide an opportunity to identify and create our own
space for collective and reciprocal learning of approaches
to common challenges in development in the region.
- To provide an opportunity for the creation of a platform
for collective action on issues of common interest.
- To promote a better understanding and appreciation of
operational environments of other NGOs in the region.
- To enhance the practical ability of NGOs in the design
and implementation of their development programmes.
- To promote greater participation of NGOs in the South
in International Development Co-operation Programmes.
- To contribute towards the general development and strengthening
of Civil Society Organizations.
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| B. INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT |
| Following the election of the new governance
committees in December 2001, a Board -Staff Orientation exercise
for the new CONGOMA Trustees, Governing Council Members and
their Standing Committees and the Secretariat staff was held.
The orientation familiarized participants on their roles and
responsibilities to ensure a better understanding of CONGOMA
and to enhance good working relationship. |
| In order to strengthen sector networking,
coordination of NGO activities and communication among NGOs,
Government and the Private Sector, CONGOMA has benefited from
funding from a financial grant provided under an agreement entered
into between CONGOMA and NORAD/SIDA. Part of the funds from
the grant was used to finance a Baseline Appraisal which gathered
ideas and issues from the NGO community and other stakeholders
with respect to their expectations from CONGOMA. These issues
and ideas formed a basis for CONGOMA's Strategic Planning Process.
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| The Strategic Plan for CONGOMA has been
drawn to govern the activities of the body for the next three
years. |
| In addition from the grant CONGOMA has
met operational cost for the Secretariat and travel costs for
CONGOMA to represent NGOs at various forums of government, donors
and the private sector. |
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| 5.2 NETWORKING AND INFORMATION
SHARING |
| Networking and information sharing is
vital in the NGO sector as it encourages collaboration and cross-fertilization
and synergies in the operations of the NGOs. |
| CONGOMA facilitates networking or interfacing
among NGOs and other co-operating partners. The major highlight
in this area is the information sharing through the regional
meetings and other interface meetings both at local and international
levels. CONGOMA has also enhanced its task of information repackaging,
which usually comes through it for transmission to its members. |
| On the other hand CONGOMA continued to
produce the newsletter, e-newsletter, NGO and Donor directories.
However due to limited financial and human resources, the production
and circulation of these newsletters and other information has
not been consistent. |
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| 5.3 ADVOCACY |
| In advocacy activities CONGOMA facilitated
the process of engaging NGOs in some important issues such as
the NGO Law, TEVET Levy, Third Term/Open Term Bills and the
Land Policy. Other initiatives were on Sector Studies in Environment,
Resource Mobilization Workshop and Forum on NGO participation
in 2001 Local Government Elections among others. |
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| A. NGO Law and NGO Operations
in Malawi |
| An NGO law to guide and regulate NGO operations
in Malawi took effected on 16th March 2001. While NGOs generally
agree that there is need for such a law, its introduction has
generated different reactions from NGOs. NGOs are divided. Some
NGOs are of the opinion that the law is good because it provides
a legal framework for purposes of transparency, accountability
and good governance. Other NGOs hold the view that that the
law is an oppressive tool, which may lead into closure of NGOs
that are championing democracy and good governance. |
| Most concerns and comments highlight the
need for independence of the NGO Board, harmonization of the
NGO Act and other laws, creation of policy framework for the
implementation of the NGO Act and removal of political elements
in the Act. |
| NGOs observed that the Act gives the Minister
of Gender, Youth and Community Services too much power to appoint
and fire members of the NGO Board. This increases the chances
of political meddling in the Board. In a similar vein, NGOs
recommended that a quorum at Board meetings should not include
ex-official members because the inclusion of ex-officials would
leave room for decision manipulation. In order to ensure effective
operations of the NGO Board, NGOs asked government to assist
funding its operations through subvention. They observed that
reliance on NGOs to finance the operation of the Board would
weaken its operation. |
| NGOs also recommended the removal of a
clause, which stipulates that any NGO involved in electioneering
and politicking should be de-registered. NGOs pointed out that
phrases 'electioneering' and 'politicking' are vague and impossible
to clearly define and would leave NGOs arbitrarily vulnerable
to de-registration. They also sought the inclusion of an explicit
provision to give a chance for redress to any rejected applicant
NGO. |
| NGOs noted that while the NGO Law sets
forth a framework for effective partnership and collaboration
between Government on the one hand and NGOs on the other, they
were of the view that for this to yield desirable results Government
should provide opportunities for NGOs to benefit from. For this
to be systematic they proposed an introduction of an NGO Policy
Framework in addition to the NGO Law. NGOs wanted a clear distinction
between the roles and duties of CONGOMA and the NGO Board. |
| While these comments and concerns have
been forwarded to the Ministry of gender, Youth and Community
Services, it remains for NGOs to be well organized and united
in order to benefit from any opportunities from Government,
donors and the private sector. |
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| B. NGOs Engage Government on TEVET
Levy |
| Government has introduced a Technical,
Entrepreneurial and Vocational Training Authority (TEVETA) levy
in order for industry to contribute to the human resource development
in Malawi. The levy was introduced on the premise that the human
resource element is very critical; in any country and that most
of those that enjoy this element in have not contributed to
its development. Once collected the levy goes into a fund for
training personnel who require certification in order to have
standardized and quality services in Malawi. |
| Every employer is supposed to pay the
levy on each employee's wage bill as long as the employee gets
a taxable wage and is not employed as a domestic servant. As
such when it was introduced, NGOs received invoices. |
| But most NGOs expressed concern on how
difficult it would be to fulfill this obligation. They pointed
out that most donors, who foot their wage bill, do not accept
to pay local taxes and NGOs have no funds of their own to pay
the levy. NGOs through a representative on the Board of TEVETA
applied for an exemption form paying the levy in recognition
of their contributions to national development. They pointed
out that other developing countries such as Tanzania have a
tax waive on community-based organizations such as NGOs as recognition
of their role in national development. The proposal has since
been made to the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning,
who has the authority to waive taxes. |
| Meanwhile, the levy has come down from
2% of the total wage bill to 1% following complaints from private
sector employers that the levy would stifle business because
it was too high. In addition, employers were given greater latitude
on how to pay the levy. Employers may pay monthly, quarterly,
biannually or annually, without attracting interest charges. |
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| 6.0 HIGHLIGHTS |
| Some of the major highlights in 2001-2002 |
| 6.1 FISCAL INCENTIVES: DUTY AND
SURTAX |
| CONGOMA is still involved in negotiations
with government on exemption of duty and surtax for certain
goods procured by NGOs in Malawi. Currently government continues
to consider NGOs on-as-is basis, which is subjective, frustrating
and costly because of beauracracy. CONGOMA's suggestion has
been for government to come up with a listing of items in a
particular year that would be exempted. For example the list
would include 5 Computers, 5 motor vehicles, 3 photocopiers,
3 fax machines, 5 cellular phones, 5 tonnes of used clothing
and any amount of office furniture. Anything in excess would
attract a 35% duty. It was further proposed that NGOs involved
with orphans, the aged and disabilities are exempted from service
surtax e.g. surtax charged on audits and vehicle repairs cost. |
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| 6.2 NGO-GOVERNMENT PARTNERSHIP |
| Drawing from the richness of a partnership
between NGOs and the Government there is need for an earnest
partnership between the two in the development of the country.
NGOs have the ability to act like a rapid reaction force towards
implementation of projects an example of this was the NGOs reaction
to the hunger crisis that hit the country in the past growing
seasons. While government accesses huge amounts of resources
it has a lot of beauracracy that delays certain important projects.
It is therefore imperative on both parties; the NGOs and the
government to build smart partnerships in this endeavor. |
| Against this background, NGOs have an
opportunity to participate in the National Safety Nets Program
being implemented by the government. CONGOMA Secretariat is
representing all the NGOs on the National Steering Committee
of the Project. |
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| 6.3 PRIVATE SECTOR-NGO PARTNERSHIP |
| Loita Investment Bank Limited has set
the pace in developing partnerships between the private sector
in the banking area with the NGOs. This follows Loita Investment
Bank's invitation to enter into partnership with NGOs, made
at the CONGOMA's Annual General Meeting. To this effect, CONGOMA
has formed a five-member task force to explore how CONGOMA Secretariat
would exploit the products being offered by the bank. The members
of the task force are Jarvis Chakumodzi, Faustace Chirwa, Arnold
Mhango, Collins Kajawa, Walker Jiyani and CONGOMA's Executive
Secretary. |
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| 6.4 SADC CIVIL SOCIETY COMMITTEE |
| When Malawi was preparing to host the
2002 Extra-Ordinary Heads of States Summit a sub committee was
formed to facilitate the input of the Civil Society. CONGOMA
was recognized to play a pivotal role in facilitating the participation
of the NGOs and entire Civil Society in the process. Thus the
committee drew representation from various sectors to the civil
society. |
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| 6.5 FUNDING |
| CONGOMA continued to receive funding through
a number of sources. Membership fees and registration processing
fees continued to be major sources of funding in the years under
review. Complimenting this funding was donor support that was
forthcoming from NORAD/SIDA in 2001 and in 2002 alongside Fredskorpset.
Other sources of income included sales of NGO directories, rentals
photocopying and reimbursements, sundry income, recovery of
debts and interest receivable (Refer to appendix 3 for income
statement on income and balance sheet). |
| It can be seen from above that CONGOMA
needs to diversify its sources of funding and develop a long-term
sustenance mechanism. It is hoped that the Strategic Plan will
clearly identify strategies on how CONGOMA will be funded. |
