Norway grants Malawi K1.1 bn for 50:50 campaign

Royal Norwegian Embassy has released 1.1 billion kwacha in grant to Ministry of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare for the implementation of the 50-50 Campaign program to increase women’s Political Participation ahead of 2019 Tripartite Elections.

Secretary for Gender, Children, Disability and social welfare Esmie Kainja says the grant will be managed by a Consortium comprising of Center for Civil Society Strengthening and Action Aid Malawi, selected through a competitive bidding process by a panel that included the embassy, the ministry and UNDP among others.

Kainja said the grant is for a two year project aimed to increase the number of women in politics through interventions that target the public as voters, women themselves, civil society organisations and other key players.

“In order to achieve these objectives, the consortium will work with UN Agencies, Malawi Electoral Commission, accredited gender focused NGOs, International Organizations, Parliamentary Women’s Caucus, Community Based Organizations and Grassroots Gender women’s movements,” Kainja explained

She said qualified NGOs will be expected to apply for grants to be given based on a strict criterion which will soon be popularized through the media and stakeholder sessions.

“The grant is part of the support to the governance sector to ensure that there is gender equality” Kainja added.

The consortium has developed a theory of change on which all participating NGOs will ground their respective approaches.