Introduction

The Malawi Government and the European Union signed a Financing Agreement in August 2006 to implement a Capacity Building Programme for Non State Actors (NSAs) in the country. The total funding that has been made available for the implementation of this programme is 5 million euros over a period of 4 years.

Overall objective

The overall objective of the programme is that government and donor policies and programmes become increasingly responsive to the needs of the Malawi population with the long-term objective to achieve socio-economic development.

Programme purpose

The purpose of the programme is to strengthen the capacity of NSAs to enable them provide effective and improved services to local communities, define independently their policy agenda and be more actively involved in policy dialogue with the Government and donors including the European Union. Further more, the programme aims at contributing to increased capacity of NSAs to act as an instrument for rural people, women or other less represented groups to formulate their needs, exercise their rights and influence policies affecting their livelihoods. In the same line, the programme will also contribute to increased capacities of NSAs to promote cultural change vis-à-vis discriminatory practices against human rights and to strengthen women’s and vulnerable groups’ roles as actors and decision makers in the country’s development.

Programme focus

The programme seeks to support NSAs in the following two key areas:

Beneficiaries of the programme will be: grassroots/community based organisations, legally registered service delivery organisations, umbrella and platform organisations as well as thematic networks.

In 2009, the program will offer free training to NSAs (NGOs, CBOs, Platform organisations, Professional Associations etc) and grants will be disbursed to NSAs meeting set eligibility criteria and guidelines