CBOs blame Nac for stalling fight against HIV/Aids

CBOs blame Nac for stalling fight against HIV/Aids

By Emmanuel Luciano
Some Community based organisations (CBOs) in the country say National Aids Commission (Nac) is putting lives of thousands of people at risk by either delaying funding or for not funding them at all.
The CBOs say they are losing the battle to combat HIV/Aids in their areas because they do not have resources to operate with.
Malawi News random survey showed that several Community based organisations in the country stopped operating last year because Nac has not funded them.
In Nkhotakota, for instance, Nac has not honoured the District Implementation Plan, despite being in the last quarter of the 2006/07 fiscal year. This has resulted in over 40 CBOs in Nkhotakota staying over a year without carrying out any activity.
Vice board chair of Chanzi CBO Kennedy Njakama said their clients felt stigmatised because they no longer receive home-based care.
“The goals, which we set to fight HIV / Aids, cannot be achieved if we are failing to provide nutritious food to over 818 clients. Even if they receive ARVs they need to have proper food which we used to provide.
“There is totally no home-based care, we cannot conduct HIV/ Aids awareness and we cannot even take care of the orphans,” said Njakama.
Njakama said they abandoned a project, which assisted over 1000 children due to lack of funding. He, however, said the problem has not affected Chanzi CBO alone in the district.
Public relations officer of Nkhotakota Youth Alive Support Organisation, Victor Mwalule said his organisation, which was last funded in 2005, could no longer cater for over 1000 people they used to serve.
“We had an orphanage where we supported about 300 orphans. We were conducting peer education but we stopped. We also had a drama group for our awareness campaign that is now dead. But when we write proposals for funding they take their time to respond,” said Mwalule.
Nkhotakota District Social Welfare Officer Goodwell Kalimanjira said his assembly is still waiting to receive K84 million from Nac to enable over 40 CBOs carry out their activities.
“We are in the last quarter of the 2006/07 fiscal year but our District Implementation Plan has not yet been honoured despite its approval last year. It’s like the Assembly is deliberately frustrating these CBOs but it is not our fault because we solely rely on NAC,” Kalimanjira said.
Nkhotakota District Aids Coordinator Cedrick Kwizombwe said the funding problem has also slowed down the implementation of the HIV/Aids functions in the public sector.
Chiradzulu District Social Welfare Officer Mike Maulidi said over 30 CBOs had not yet received funding in the district.
“According to the proposals we put forward, there are remaining trenches of funding to be received. For instance we haven’t yet paid school fees for many students despite submitting the proposal last year,” he said.
But Nac’s executive director Dr. Bizwick Mwale said there are several processes that have to be followed before CBOs receive funding.
“Some CBOs have problems to account for money. So, if they delay to account, I will also delay because I have to account for that money to the donors, who also have to account for it to their respective parliaments.
“The number of CBOs has also grown. When this programme started we had less than 1000 CBOs. But you have to look at the availability of the money itself. You also have to carry out a verification process which means that you have to visit the group village headmen to see whether that CBO really exists. Once the verification process, the proposal review and justification process has been made we speed up the process of releasing funding,” Mwale said.
The executive director said his organisation had simplified the proposal to speed the process of funding CBOs.
“Some CBOs want money as soon as yesterday. I wish I had money that I could throw but we are trying our best, the assemblies are trying their best, and they [CBOs] should also try their best. They need to be accountable themselves,” he said.
Nac suspended funding to several CBOs in the country for allegedly failing to properly account for the money they received from it.