GIZ, DFID donate motorcycles to Councils

By Anjoya Mwanza, contributor – Mana. 

GIZ, a German development agency and Department for International Development (DFID) on Wednesday donated 16 motorcycles worth MK30m to district councils that are implementing social protection programmes.  

GIZ Country Director, Alan Walsch said during the donation in Lilongwe the contribution is his organisation’s commitment to compliment Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 1.3 which focuses on Social Protection systems for everyone as a key to eradicating poverty.

“The donation strives to complement the decentralisation policy which gives power and chance to everyone regardless of status to contribute positively to the development of the country. 

“It also promotes Agenda 2030 for sustainable development which encourages people to work together so as to tackle challenges confronting humanity,” he said.

Acting Chief Director in the Department of Economic Planning and Development, Peter Simbani commended the support saying government will continue prioritising social protection with emphasis on leaving no-one behind.

He said the motorcycles will improve mobility in councils which has been the challenge throughout the implementation of its programmes.

District Commissioner for Dowa, Alex Mdooko who represented the beneficiary districts said the donation will improve monitoring and evaluation aspects that lagged behind during the programme implementation.

He explained that the districts have not had enough vehicles to use for their activities especially when they want to reach very remote areas.

“We usually depend on vehicles from the headquarters to help us reach the target population especially during social cash transfers. These motorcycles will therefore assist the officers to access the hard-to-reach areas,” said Mdooko.

Dowa, Lilongwe, Karonga, Nsanje and Chiradzulu are among the 16 districts that implement social protection system programmes in Malawi.

Mana/am/gjp