ASC Program and partners share notes on best practices

By Elias Banda

ADRA Malawi, through the Action for Social Change Program (ASC) organized a two-day meeting involving district government officers. The meetings took place in Lilongwe and Blantyre, involving district planning directors, district agriculture offices, district social welfare officers, district AIDS coordinators, district monitoring and evaluation from the ASC Program targeted districts.
The  meetings were aimed at analyzing strategies that embrace  the ASC Program thematic areas of HIV/AIDS, food security, livelihood and communication.

Emma Jakobo, ASC Program Manager addressing stakeholders

Speaking during the official opening of the meetings at both venues, Claudio Sandoval, ADRA Country Director urged participants to utilize the meetings as platforms for sharing and learning. He said that through acting together, ADRA and her partners could achieve more to the advantage of the vulnerable people in the communities.
ADRA Malawi Deputy Country Director Michael Usi echoed Claudio’s sentiments and stressed on the importance of team work. He said that in a team, whoever scores a goal  makes the whole team to win, referring to the combined efforts of ADRA and her partners.
During the course of the meetings, ASC Program technical officers made presentations on the strategies and this was followed by discussions, reflecting on the issues in the strategies.  The district officers advised how best the ASC would implement the strategies to ensure that activities are in line with government plans and they point towards achieving intended objectives .

ADRA Malawi staff and partners during the meeting

The gathering further agreed that ADRA and her partners should conduct field visits as a way encouraging joint monitoring of activities.
Speaking when closing the meeting, Lilongwe District Planning Director Peter Jimsole  said he was happy with the ASC Program and urged ADRA Malawi to include remarks made by district officials in the strategies. He said though the program has no service delivery in its implementation, it could still bank on linkages with other partners to achieve the intended goals.
ASC Program Manager Emma Jakobo thanked district officials for their time and support and assured them that ADRA Malawi would make use of their input to perfect the strategies.

The Action for Social Change Program is being supported by Denmark to bring about society and individual change in Machinga, Mulanje, Lilongwe and Mzuzu.