The Kapyanga Success Story
Kasungu NICE started working with the Kapyanga Community in 2013. The Project was being implemented with support from Water Aid. The area was identified through a District Executive Meeting after a briefing session on what the Project was all about (Governance and Policy in WASH) through Citizen Action Initiative. The Project has operated in 4 Group Village Headman of Chipumba, Mndoliro, Chimanda and Kapyanga which all fall under Traditional Authority Wimbe which is to the East of Kasungu.
BASIC DATA FOR THE AREA IN 2013 AT THE INCEPTION OF THE PROJECT
| KASUNGU | IMPACT AREA | ||
| POPULATION | WIMBE | LUKWA | |
| Males | 301184 | 39250 | 14199 |
| Females | 326283 | 43071 | 18704 |
| Under Fives | 144317 | 19051 | 12085 |
| Totals | 627467 | 82831 | 44988 |
| Water Coverage | 68% | 40% | 47% |
| Functionality rate | 91% | 84% | 72% |
| Sanitation Coverage | 74% | 52% | 72% |
| Improved Sanitation | 11% | 2% | 6% |
The above mentioned areas lagged behind in terms of infrastructure development and other services since independence. There was severe shortage of potable water, health facilities, poor road network and several other amenities hence the inception of the project called Citizen Action Initiative (CIA).
Project Aim
Citizen Action Initiative (CAI) aimed at empowering citizens to be able to advocate for fulfillment of their rights through satisfactory service delivery by the various service providers and other duty bearers such as MPs and Councilors just to mention a few.
Process
The Project undertook several activities to ensure that it is successful. Orientation/briefing meetings were held to ensure initial buy in support from key stakeholders such as DEC and ADC/VDC. The next stage was to identify local facilitators who WERE essentially Para Civic Educators (PCEs) who were tasked to provide support to Citizen Forums and communities in this Project.
The local Facilitators conducted several sensitization meetings within these areas where a group of 15 people were elected from each Group Village Headman and were called Citizen Forums. The Citizen Forums were equipped with relevant skills through training in order to spearhead the initiative. The trainings involved orienting them on issues of Human Rights Based Approach, Decentralization, Democracy, Community Score Card and Conducting Needs Assessment.
KEEP YOUR PROMISE CAMPAIGN
As the Country was heading towards the 2014 tripartite elections, communities through these forums signed with aspiring candidates agreements through a campaign called keep your Promise. This was an initiative that compelled those people that were aspiring to be MPs and Councilors to sign agreements with communities that they would help in fulfilling certain burning highlighted issues instead of making empty campaign promises. It specifically spelt out that something positive should happen within 100 days of one being in Office of either Parliament or Council.
Follow up interface meetings were held after elections and it involved those that had actually won the elections (Member of Parliament and Councilor) and other service providers. It was during one of these meetings that the community asked for a borehole at Kambira Primary School. Indeed the borehole was sunk within one week.
Interface meetings provided a platform where communities would continuously engage with duty bearers and service providers. It thus became a common feature of the activities that were being conducted. At the end of each and every meeting, agreements would be signed and follow ups made by the same community to ensure that the Project bears fruits and the community benefits. It became common that after each and every interface meeting, the issue of a health facility would crop up. The communities were tired of empty promises. They decided that they would walk all to the district council offices to ensure that the facility should be built.
People around Kapyanga used to travel 45KM to get to the nearest Health Centre which is Wimbe. This had been the trend since independence (1964). People were fed up and needed a health facility within walkable distance. They took the MP and the Councilor to task. The pressure was too much for them (duty bearers) to bear.
The said duty bearers in turn took the matter to the full council for debate. Indeed after these deliberations a project for health unit amounting to 25 million kwacha was approved. The community did not only want paper work, they therefore pressed signed for action.
Finally on the 28th of January 2016, the launching ceremony was done. In attendance were the MP, the Councilor, District Chairperson, District Council Staff and several other invited guests.
A Contractor was identified to implement the Project. A project Management Committee was instituted by the community. Currently foundational works have already been done. People are now celebrating everywhere that their wish has finally been granted.
Other communities from the surrounding areas have also seen the importance of this initiative and have started instituting Citizen Forums on their own.
Media Engagement
The media was continuously engaged throughout the process. At each and every stage there was publicity on the radio and newspapers. Publicity helped to advocate for change in the area. During implementation of this project, both the electronic and print media were involved.
