NICE Trust has implemented the Wash Governance Project, Deliver Life and Deliver Life II Projects supported by DFID and Scottish Government through Water Aid Malawi. It aimed at empowering citizens to take responsibility and actively engage in the realization of their rights to WASH for improved maternal health. Thus, the projects enhanced the living conditions of marginalized communities through modelling the provision of safe domestic water supply, sanitation, and hygiene in a sustainable and effective way in collaboration with all stakeholders both within and outside targeted districts. This Deliver Life Project effectively utilised water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) systems strengthening approaches that went beyond infrastructure development and addressed factors such as access to information, political economy of decision-making, and service provision This project deployed a systems approach that recognizes that strong WASH service delivery requires all of the factors and actors involved in the system, including technology, financing, regulation, coordination, service provision, learning, accountability mechanisms, households, communities, public institutions, local government, private companies, technologies, markets, and regulations.
The Deliver Life project systems strengthening approach involved taking actions and supporting interventions to strengthen the factors, the capacity of actors, and their inter-relationships that can improve the quality and sustainability of WASH services and ensure that all populations are served. The Deliver Life fully realized that the systems strengthening approach means understanding that WASH exists in complex systems with many component parts and within different social, economic, political, and environmental contexts. It involves identifying and working to address the barriers in behaviours, policies, processes, resources, interactions, and institutions that block achievement of inclusive, lasting, universal access to WASH. Gender equality, social inclusion, human rights were continuously mainstreamed through all system strengthening activities in the deliver life project, indeed it was anchored on human rights-based approach to WASH intervention.
NICE Trust, as a local partner to Water Aid Malawi, worked on improving good governance in the delivery of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) and Maternal Neo-natal and Child Health (MNCH) services in Nsanje, Machinga, Zomba, Nkhotakota, Kasungu, and Rumphi districts.
NICE conducted countrywide campaigns to raise awareness on Covid-19 and its dangers as well as mobilize the masses to get vaccinated in all 28 districts of Malawi.
In the midst of government restrictions on public gatherings and the threat other approaches would pose to the public, NICE used mobile vans for public awareness and also brought the vaccines closer to the people. This meant that once the messages were being disseminated, those that expressed willingness to get the vaccine immediately got the jab.
Through this approach, under the Ministry of Health’s Covid-19 Vaccination Express Initiative, NICE utilized branded vans or minibuses which carried the vaccinators, those responsible for health promotion and information materials on the importance of getting vaccinated against Covid-19 in order to reach a lot of people even those in the remotest areas in the shortest possible time.
NICE Trust’s Strategic Plan provides for a roadmap, framework, actions, institutional reforms, and it articulates, and outlines measures augmenting Malawi Government’s development agenda. Thus, facilitating effective exploitation of the organisation’s available resources, and help transform the civic education and governance sector thereby contributing to making Malawi “an inclusive wealth and self-reliant nation” as enshrined in the country’s long term plan the Malawi 2063.
NICE Trust puts emphasis on civic education that will contribute towards changing people’s attitude, mindset, and behaviour as a vehicle toward the realisation of the attainment of the inspiration of the Malawi 2063’s vision in the long run. It is the belief and conviction of NICE that only a changed and transformed Malawi society with positive mindset, attitudes and behaviours and unity of purpose would realise the dreams as contained in the Malawi 2063.
Civic education is, therefore, an important ingredient of this transformation and the change we want to see, and it is this perspective, NICE has to play a critical role. It further involves instilling a sense of ownership, self-reliance and patriotism through messages that enhance peoples’ patriotism and are willingly taking part in nation’s aspirations and dream. The discourse touches on the idea of taking full responsibility in ending corruption, poor governance, high sense of economic dependence among others, that are slowing down economic growth in Malawi as well as exposing Malawians to negative effects on people’s health caused by neglect in the WASH sector. NICE Trust recognises that these social and governance ills are retrogressive and require consistent civic engagement. NICE, through its transformative Civic Education is working with all key players in making sure that transformation happens now and for the future generation. NICE is, therefore, geared to put more emphasis on civic education that will contribute towards changing people’s attitude, mindset, and behaviour as a vehicle towards the attainment of the aspirations of the Malawi 2063 in the long run.
NICE therefore, prioritizes behaviour change in WASH interventions, championing the importance of identifying novel and creative approaches to changing behaviours. NICE is also cognizant that behavioural interventions can’t necessarily be replicated across contexts since many intervention and community-related factors are involved. Therefore, NICE emphasizes that interventions must be context specific, as local routines, beliefs, customs, and the surrounding environment all significantly affect behaviour.
Like any other society in the world, Malawi is governed by a culture whose beliefs, values, customs, and a host of social practices have a powerful influence on community life. Culture is very important for national identity. Each nation has some ways of life that are unique to it. Culture is also important for national development. As it is rightly argued, people without a culture are like a tree without roots. Culture is at the root of national development, and for that development to be sustainable that culture must be vibrant. At the same time, it is worth noting that some elements of culture can be obstacles to development. Thus, there are different cultural practices that infringe on the human rights of individuals and groups of people.
Thus, NICE acknowledges that prevention of harmful cultural practices requires a rights-based approach to changing social and cultural norms. NICE therefore, continues to support a range of interventions including awareness raising and training of relevant stakeholders, dissemination, implementation and enforcement of relevant legislation, empowering women, and girls, building the capacity of all relevant professionals who are in regular contact with victims, potential victims, and perpetrators at all levels.
NICE Trust was involved by Malawi Law Commission (the Commission) to popularize and ensure practical results on child and women’s rights and conducted legal literacy sessions in schools in four selected districts (Kasungu, Salima, Dedza and Mangochi). The sessions had three components: namely, i) school-based legal literacy sessions involving learners within the context of a Joint Program on Girls Education (JPGE). These translated to 25 meetings in each district that dwelt on child rights that included water, hygiene and sanitation for learners that resulted in the construction and rehabilitation of pit latrines and toilets in many schools. These were supported by, ii) school-based legal literacy sessions involving school-based structures like school management committees, parents-teachers associations, mother groups and development committees like area and village development committees (ADCs and VDCs).
These are action-oriented structures meant to support the improvement of the learning environment that includes the school WASH situation. The third forum under the project involved, iii) community based legal literacy sessions which engaged the community at large on child rights that included WASH issues. Duty-bearers like public officials at the council, Councillors and Members of Parliament had to be summoned to account for the non-availability of some of these basic WASH facilities in the schools. The project brought about a huge change in the WASH situation through provision of potable water sources as well as an increase in the number of functional pit latrines, toilets, and urinals in schools in the project districts.
NICE was a major player in 2019 tripartite election and the 2020 fresh presidential elections. NICE contributed to the following
2019 – Over 80 %; 2014 – Over 90%;
2020 – Presidential – 64.8; 019 – Presidential – 74.4; 2014 – Presidential – 70.7
2020 – 1.1%; 2019 – 1.09%; 2014 – 1.07%
NICE supported the 50-50 Campaign through the provision of a platform to all women candidates, so that they reach the grassroots – NICE supported the establishment of 31 women empowerment incubators in collaboration with 50: 50 management Agency, where women accessed campaign materials, sought advice and counselling among others. For 2019 elections, women aspirants for Member of Parliament increased from 254 MP aspirants in 2014 to 309 in 2019. 2019 parliamentary elections - women numbers increased from 32 (in 2014) to 42 in 2019; thus 22% of women representation from 17% in the previous elections.
NICE in conjunction with Domasi College of Education and Malawi Institute of Education (MIE) entered in an MoU to work together to lobby government to reintroduce civics in the school curriculum - to revitalize the teaching and learning of civic and citizenship education in Malawi. NICE, mobilised stakeholders to rethink on the citizenship education in Malawi and MIE and Domasi College of Education were supported to conduct a survey. Stakeholders’ meetings were held to validate the survey on the revitalisation of the Teaching and Learning of Civics in Malawian schools. A steering committee was put in place to discuss and action issues from the stakeholders’ meetings. MW2063 has embraced the implementation of the project which is now spearheaded by Ministry of Education supported by Department of National Unity through the Department of Civic Education and NICE is main stakeholder.
NICE implemented Public Expenditure Tracking Survey in 6 districts of Karonga, Mzuzu City, Nkhatabay, Mangochi, Ntcheu and Mulanje. The activities aimed at improving state accountability and responsiveness to citizens’ needs which leads to better regulation and management of public goods and services essential for economic growth and human development. Focus was also on the contribution of social accountability approaches to bring together citizen groups and public officials to increase oversight of public funds at central and local levels. This involved
NICE upgraded 7 district resource centres (Mzuzu, Kasungu, Mchinji, Salima, Thyolo, Lilongwe Urban, and Mangochi), equipped them with ICT equipment for civic education reach out, information management and dissemination. The structure of the resource centres allows people access crucial and critical information both off and online. The centres are equipped to provide the information required as centres of continuous civic education. The centres contribute to access to information as a human right, at the same time there is capacity building on women who would want to entrench their ICT skills that would help them access information electronically.
NICE has digital reporting platform using grassroots volunteers called MASOATHU. The platform was initially used during both 2019 and 2020 electoral processes It has potential to capture data on emerging issues such as Covid-19, Agricultural Input Programme (AIP); Gender Based Violence, etc. It is with this analogy that the MASOATHU platform has had an addition on Covid-19, GBV, Disaster, Injustice (i.e., access to justice) indicators. Volunteers have been trained on reporting on the indicators using mobile SMS and Mobile Application. NICE has redesigned its governance monitoring platform to suit the current needs of the society.
NICE under this programme is allocated MWK 897,500,000 to implement a project called Deepening democracy and good governance through provision of high quality civic and voter education, community empowerment and mobilisation. Under this project NICE was to achieve three outcomes as follows