World Bank Vice President responsible for human development, Joy Phumaphi, on Monday emphasized the need for Malawi to speed up the procurement of school materials for the smooth implementation of the country’s direct support to schools (DSS) project.
The government borrowed nearly US$42 million from the bank to run the project for a period of five years.
DSS is a World Bank project whereby all government primary schools get an average of $US200 for the procurement of teaching and learning materials. The figure varies depending on the schools enrollment.
Speaking during the organization learning exercise on the improvement of the project in Lilongwe, she said the implementation of the project depended on the way schools managed the project.
She observed that through the DSS, Malawi had made tremendous achievements in the enrollment of pupils in the country’s primary schools.
“Malawi has made tremendous progress over the years in bringing children back to school,” she said, before appealing to school managers to work together in order to achieve results on the project.
Education, Science and Technology Ministry Director of Basic Education, McKnight Kalanda, said there was a need for partnerships in order to effectively implement the project.
“My appeal to teachers, school management committee and parents- teachers associations is for you to work together in the implementation of the project so that it yields results,” Kalanda said.
The DSS project is in its third phase since its inception in 2006, and it has over 5, 000 primary schools countrywide under its wraps.
Tuesday, 19 August 2008
Malawi’s voter registration exercise starts with hiccups
Malawi’s voter registration exercise for the May 2009 presidential and parliamentary polls got off to a slow start, and for some of those who attempted to register without proper identification documents, they were turned away to seek some of form ID like a passport, birth certificates, driver’s licence or simply a letter from their village headmen or workplaces.
Malawi, like most Anglophone states in Africa, does not have a systematic ID registration regime – something it has been contemplating for sometime now.
Malawians do not have identification a development which has made the exercise difficult to identify if they are real Malawians or not, and eligible to vote as the country\’s electoral laws stipulates.
According to reports, in some areas of the country the exercise has met a very low turn out of potential voters due to lack of sensitisation of registration before the actual exercise.
But Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) spokesperson Fergus Lipenga emphasised the need for people to get letters from their traditional authorities or employers in the absence of any official identity.
\"That’s a simple way of making themselves known to the officers at the centres if they do not have passports, driving licences or birth certificates,\" he said.
On civic education, he said the body accredited several organisations to conduct civic education countrywide and they did so in all corners of the country.
Malawi, like most Anglophone states in Africa, does not have a systematic ID registration regime – something it has been contemplating for sometime now.
Malawians do not have identification a development which has made the exercise difficult to identify if they are real Malawians or not, and eligible to vote as the country\’s electoral laws stipulates.
According to reports, in some areas of the country the exercise has met a very low turn out of potential voters due to lack of sensitisation of registration before the actual exercise.
But Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) spokesperson Fergus Lipenga emphasised the need for people to get letters from their traditional authorities or employers in the absence of any official identity.
\"That’s a simple way of making themselves known to the officers at the centres if they do not have passports, driving licences or birth certificates,\" he said.
On civic education, he said the body accredited several organisations to conduct civic education countrywide and they did so in all corners of the country.
Gender and Media Award Winners
Media practitioners have hailed Gender Links for initiating awards that honour journalists and media institutions for good practices and policies on HIV/AIDS and Gender. Some journalists are also calling on GL to expand these honours to recognise team work and consistency in the production of gender related media.
Gender Links partnered with MISA, Panos, SafAids, GEMSA and UNAIDS to spearhead the Media Action Plan on HIV/AIDS and gender, and institutions were invited to submit nominations for examples of good HIV and gender policies. The Voice newspaper of Botswana won this year’s award, followed by Namibia’s Katutura Community Radio station.
According to the judges, The Voice, a tabloid, had shown outstanding leadership in backing Botswana’s national policy on HIV/AIDS by coming up with a comprehensive workplace policy. They were also impressed by the paper’s creative marketing strategy and consistent coverage of a variety of topics. The paper’s editor, Pamela Dube, said she was humbled by the award.
The judges said Katutura Community Radio had also shown “exemplary leadership” creating awareness on HIV/AIDS with the station’s manager Sandra Williams leading from the front.
There were six entries from Malawi, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia and Swaziland. Last year Malawi’s Broadcasting Corporation won the award, followed by The Times of Zambia. Apart from cash prizes, the winners will benefit from a two week-training programme.
This year’s gender media awards attracted 62 entries; 38 of them written by women, who made six of the 10 final winners. Winners came from Malawi, Mauritius, South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. Photojournalism was a new category in the awards.
Zimbabwean journalist Trevor Davies is the winner in that category.
“I am pleased that visual communication is being recognised in these awards. So many awards focus on stories yet pictures can enhance or spoil a story,” an elated Davies said after receiving his award.
He added, “Journalism is moving quickly now towards an emphasis on the visual so this award will encourage all journalists to consider how they can enhance their storytelling works with image making.”
Speaking at the awards ceremony, guest speaker, South Africa’s Mister of Agriculture Lulu Xingwana, hailed the awards saying they recognised journalists that bother to check and investigate while writing their stories. “These are our gems.”
She described the standard of the entries as high and said the articles covered a wide range of issues. The minister said there was need for more women’s voices in the media and said the current practice whereby women are portrayed as objects by big businesses needs to stop.
“Our citizens must be active consumers of media messages,” Xingwana said, adding that there was need to empower more male journalists to venture into gender reporting. One of the judges in the institutional awards category, veteran journalist Francis Mdlongwa, described the majority of the entries as strong supported by well articulated reports on policies put in place. Some, however, were weakened by lack of critical information.
The Swazi Observer of Swaziland came up for special commendation. In an earlier interview, Mdlongwa encouraged upcoming journalists to hunger and thirst for awards.
“Awards make your career and separate you from the ordinary journalist,” he said.
Brian Ligomeka from Malawi won the features award in the print category. He said the award was a challenge and would motivate him to do even better. “I am a news editor. Recently I introduced a full page for gender coverage and this means I have to continue with the work that I have started,” he said.
Honour Roll
Print: News
Swart’s victory in sex-pest case a boost for women
Edwin Naidu, South Africa
Print: Feature
New magic? HIV+ mum but HIV negative baby
Brian Ligomeka, Malawi
Print: Opinion and commentary
Pro-active initiatives increasing girls’ university enrollment
Bestina A. Magutu, Tanzania
Best practices: Gender and Economic reporting
Climate change, water crisis
Raphael Mweninguwe, Malawi
Best practices: Sustained reporting on a particular issue
Issue: HIV prevention trials in Southern Africa
Kristy Siegfried, South Africa
Best practices: HIV and AIDS
The trials and tribulations of community involvement in research
Kanya Ndaki, South Africa
Best practices: Political participation
Pro-active gender campaign for Malawi elections
Daniel Manyowa, Malawi
Category: Photojournalism
Name of photo: Maasai men braiding women’s hair
Trevor Davies, Zimbabwe
Television: News
Domestic violence
Gillian Pillay, South Africa
Television: Feature
Name: AIDS: Living together
Avinash Bissoondoyal, Mauritius
Gender Links partnered with MISA, Panos, SafAids, GEMSA and UNAIDS to spearhead the Media Action Plan on HIV/AIDS and gender, and institutions were invited to submit nominations for examples of good HIV and gender policies. The Voice newspaper of Botswana won this year’s award, followed by Namibia’s Katutura Community Radio station.
According to the judges, The Voice, a tabloid, had shown outstanding leadership in backing Botswana’s national policy on HIV/AIDS by coming up with a comprehensive workplace policy. They were also impressed by the paper’s creative marketing strategy and consistent coverage of a variety of topics. The paper’s editor, Pamela Dube, said she was humbled by the award.
The judges said Katutura Community Radio had also shown “exemplary leadership” creating awareness on HIV/AIDS with the station’s manager Sandra Williams leading from the front.
There were six entries from Malawi, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia and Swaziland. Last year Malawi’s Broadcasting Corporation won the award, followed by The Times of Zambia. Apart from cash prizes, the winners will benefit from a two week-training programme.
This year’s gender media awards attracted 62 entries; 38 of them written by women, who made six of the 10 final winners. Winners came from Malawi, Mauritius, South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. Photojournalism was a new category in the awards.
Zimbabwean journalist Trevor Davies is the winner in that category.
“I am pleased that visual communication is being recognised in these awards. So many awards focus on stories yet pictures can enhance or spoil a story,” an elated Davies said after receiving his award.
He added, “Journalism is moving quickly now towards an emphasis on the visual so this award will encourage all journalists to consider how they can enhance their storytelling works with image making.”
Speaking at the awards ceremony, guest speaker, South Africa’s Mister of Agriculture Lulu Xingwana, hailed the awards saying they recognised journalists that bother to check and investigate while writing their stories. “These are our gems.”
She described the standard of the entries as high and said the articles covered a wide range of issues. The minister said there was need for more women’s voices in the media and said the current practice whereby women are portrayed as objects by big businesses needs to stop.
“Our citizens must be active consumers of media messages,” Xingwana said, adding that there was need to empower more male journalists to venture into gender reporting. One of the judges in the institutional awards category, veteran journalist Francis Mdlongwa, described the majority of the entries as strong supported by well articulated reports on policies put in place. Some, however, were weakened by lack of critical information.
The Swazi Observer of Swaziland came up for special commendation. In an earlier interview, Mdlongwa encouraged upcoming journalists to hunger and thirst for awards.
“Awards make your career and separate you from the ordinary journalist,” he said.
Brian Ligomeka from Malawi won the features award in the print category. He said the award was a challenge and would motivate him to do even better. “I am a news editor. Recently I introduced a full page for gender coverage and this means I have to continue with the work that I have started,” he said.
Honour Roll
Print: News
Swart’s victory in sex-pest case a boost for women
Edwin Naidu, South Africa
Print: Feature
New magic? HIV+ mum but HIV negative baby
Brian Ligomeka, Malawi
Print: Opinion and commentary
Pro-active initiatives increasing girls’ university enrollment
Bestina A. Magutu, Tanzania
Best practices: Gender and Economic reporting
Climate change, water crisis
Raphael Mweninguwe, Malawi
Best practices: Sustained reporting on a particular issue
Issue: HIV prevention trials in Southern Africa
Kristy Siegfried, South Africa
Best practices: HIV and AIDS
The trials and tribulations of community involvement in research
Kanya Ndaki, South Africa
Best practices: Political participation
Pro-active gender campaign for Malawi elections
Daniel Manyowa, Malawi
Category: Photojournalism
Name of photo: Maasai men braiding women’s hair
Trevor Davies, Zimbabwe
Television: News
Domestic violence
Gillian Pillay, South Africa
Television: Feature
Name: AIDS: Living together
Avinash Bissoondoyal, Mauritius
Malawi parliament to meet for two weeks to approve budget
The Malawi Parliament, which President Bingu wa Mutharika suspended last Friday for failing to meet his deadline to approve the national budget, will once again meet for another two weeks to finalise the adoption and passing of the 2008/09 expenditure following an agreement by the opposition and government sides on the way forward, APA learnt here Tuesday.
According to sources, both sides have met to decide the way forward towards approving the budget following Mutharika\’s order to close parliament, arguing that the opposition parliamentarians were being irresponsible for not passing it within the previously allotted ten days.
An opposition member of the Business Committee of Parliament, Friday Jumbe, told APA during an interview that the MP’s will continue meeting for two weeks until the budget is adopted and passed.
\"We have set aside to ourselves a maximum period of two weeks to finalise the adoption and passing of this year\’s budget,\" he said.
He said the president was not supposed to close parliament because all members were contributing and we were in our final stage to pass it.
Meanwhile, Speaker of the National Assembly, Louis Chimango, said he was consulting to see as to when parliament could be reconvened for the budget discussions.
\"I am asking all members of parliament to stick around and wait for the day to be announced by our office,\" he said in a radio announcement.
Mutharika, on his departure for the recent SADC summit in South Africa on Friday, ordered the closure of parliament and accused MP’s for acting irresponsibly.
No date has been set for the meeting.
According to sources, both sides have met to decide the way forward towards approving the budget following Mutharika\’s order to close parliament, arguing that the opposition parliamentarians were being irresponsible for not passing it within the previously allotted ten days.
An opposition member of the Business Committee of Parliament, Friday Jumbe, told APA during an interview that the MP’s will continue meeting for two weeks until the budget is adopted and passed.
\"We have set aside to ourselves a maximum period of two weeks to finalise the adoption and passing of this year\’s budget,\" he said.
He said the president was not supposed to close parliament because all members were contributing and we were in our final stage to pass it.
Meanwhile, Speaker of the National Assembly, Louis Chimango, said he was consulting to see as to when parliament could be reconvened for the budget discussions.
\"I am asking all members of parliament to stick around and wait for the day to be announced by our office,\" he said in a radio announcement.
Mutharika, on his departure for the recent SADC summit in South Africa on Friday, ordered the closure of parliament and accused MP’s for acting irresponsibly.
No date has been set for the meeting.
Nyala Ruby Mine Reopens
The Nyala ruby mine situated at Chimwadzulu, Malawi, which had been out of commission for over 2 years, is back in production.
The Malawian government has granted a new ten-year lease for the ruby mine to mine owner Columbia Gem House, as well as an automatic renewal after five years. The new lease includes ruby mining specifications as well as community development aspects, such as funding of a health clinic and ownership participation by local Malawians.
The ruby mining company stated that a major expansion plan to be introduced by November will increase ruby production 20 to 30 times over the current rate.
JCK Online notes that historically the Chimwadzulu Hill area production consists of 35% ruby, 30% orange and padparadscha, 25% pink and 15% purple and lavender sapphire colors.
Columbia Gem House stated: “All gemstones are 100% controlled through mining, cutting, and marketing to assure 100% untreated gemstones.”
The Malawian government has granted a new ten-year lease for the ruby mine to mine owner Columbia Gem House, as well as an automatic renewal after five years. The new lease includes ruby mining specifications as well as community development aspects, such as funding of a health clinic and ownership participation by local Malawians.
The ruby mining company stated that a major expansion plan to be introduced by November will increase ruby production 20 to 30 times over the current rate.
JCK Online notes that historically the Chimwadzulu Hill area production consists of 35% ruby, 30% orange and padparadscha, 25% pink and 15% purple and lavender sapphire colors.
Columbia Gem House stated: “All gemstones are 100% controlled through mining, cutting, and marketing to assure 100% untreated gemstones.”
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