BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR
Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) has temporarily suspended connections to its new customers because the country’s sole power generator does not have materials, The Sunday Times can reveal.
The revelation comes after South West Education Division (Swed) manageress, Sr. Eunice Dambo, had earlier complained to the Deputy Minister of Education Wictor Songazaudzu Sajeni that despite Escom pocketing full payments over six months ago, the corporation is failing to connect Chifunga and Ligowe CDSSes in Neno.
Dambo asked Sajeni to intervene saying an extended delay to connect the schools would have a negative impact on the learners’ studies.
“We paid everything, but because of the reasons best know to Escom, they are not installing electricity at these schools. We would like to ask you to intervene; we want learners to be studying in electricity,” she implored.
Escom public relations officer, Kitty Chingota, confirmed to have received payment for connecting Chifunga and Ligowe and that they have failed to provide the service on time.
Chingota further revealed that the two schools are just a dot in a pool of clients on the waiting list. She further hinted that the applicants will have to wait a little longer because the corporation does not know when the materials will arrive from wherever they are ordering the materials.
“We don’t have materials in stock at the moment. As soon as we get the materials, we’ll certainly connect them,” she explained.
“The two schools are just some of the clients who have paid in full, but we can’t connect them because of the same reason. There are several others on the waiting list,” said Chingota.
Asked when the materials would be in, the ESCOM publicist could not commit herself to providing a date saying she also does not know the exact date when they [materials] will arrive.
END
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Ape conservation could reduce poverty in Africa
Submitted by Mike on Wed, 18/08/2010 - 16:07, edited by Watipaso Mzungu Jnr
African countries with populations of endangered apes could do more to ensure that conservation activities bring benefits in the fight against poverty, according to two reports published today by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and partners.
The reports reveal important lessons from across the continent that policymakers and conservation groups can use to boost both biodiversity and the livelihoods of poor communities.
"Wherever you find apes in Africa you also find people living in poverty," says Dilys Roe, a senior researcher at IIED. "Efforts to conserve apes have great potential to also reduce poverty but the actual, or perceived, negative impacts of conservation may result in local antipathy — or even outright hostility — to conservation efforts."
Africa's apes — the bonobos, chimpanzees and gorillas — are our closest living relatives. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature classes them all as endangered or critically endangered because of hunting and deforestation.
Early efforts to conserve these species in strictly controlled protected areas often led to conflict with local communities who were restricted from accessing forest resources they had used for generations.
One report, focussing on Uganda, highlights how resistance from the surrounding communities seriously threatened the ability of the authorities to manage two national parks after they were set up in 1991 to protect mountain gorillas.
In response, the government and nongovernmental organizations adopted a range of "integrated conservation and development" strategies, which aimed to both create benefits for local communities and reduce their reliance on resources within the parks – and hence their negative impact on the gorillas' habitat.
Based on 15 years of experience, the report reveals that many have achieved successes but often in different ways to what was planned. The study also found, however, that to maximize both conservation and development outcomes such initiatives will need to have a greater positive impact on the poorest households.
"Integrated conservation and development has come under some criticism in recent years," says the report’s lead author Tom Blomley. "We found that the long term engagement of a range of development and conservation organisations working in a joint manner appears to have addressed both objectives."
The second report expands the focus beyond Uganda and highlights initiatives that seek to link ape conservation with poverty reduction in 18 nations — Angola; Burundi; Cameroon; Central African Republic; Cote d'Ivoire; The Democratic Republic of Congo; Equatorial Guinea; Gabon; Ghana; Guinea; Guinea Bissau; Liberia; Nigeria; Congo; Rwanda; Sierra Leone; Tanzania; and Uganda.
Activities range from simple outreach initiatives that aim to improve local attitudes to conservation, to initiatives that give communities decision making power over natural resource management and ways to benefit from them.
"These conservation initiatives are making a concerted effort to address poverty issues, but surprisingly few of them seem to explore whether or not they have been successful by measuring or reporting on the results of their efforts," says Chris Sandbrook, who headed the review.
Much of the best poverty impact data comes from studies of great ape tourism, which is a popular way of converting the presence of apes into money for local development – although even here the revenue from tourism is rarely shared with local people at a significant enough scale to give them real incentives to support conservation.
Many alternative initiatives exist, such as those that promote agriculture as an alternative to living off forest resources and, conversely, those that promote sustainable use of forest resources and so create incentives for conservation. But there are many missed opportunities and factors that can limit efforts to link great ape conservation and poverty reduction.
"These studies highlight the wealth of existing experience and provide key lessons for initiatives that seek to link conservation and poverty reduction," says Dilys Roe, coordinator of the 'Poverty and Conservation Learning Group', an international network of conservation and development organisations that IIED hosts. "We hope that they learn from these experiences in order to build on the success stories – and avoid some of the pitfalls and significantly increase the impact of conservation on poverty.”"
The studies were done with funding support from the Arcus Foundation, a leading global grantmaking foundation advancing pressing social justice and conservation issues. Specifically, Arcus works to advance LGBT equality, as well as to conserve and protect the great apes.
END
African countries with populations of endangered apes could do more to ensure that conservation activities bring benefits in the fight against poverty, according to two reports published today by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and partners.
The reports reveal important lessons from across the continent that policymakers and conservation groups can use to boost both biodiversity and the livelihoods of poor communities.
"Wherever you find apes in Africa you also find people living in poverty," says Dilys Roe, a senior researcher at IIED. "Efforts to conserve apes have great potential to also reduce poverty but the actual, or perceived, negative impacts of conservation may result in local antipathy — or even outright hostility — to conservation efforts."
Africa's apes — the bonobos, chimpanzees and gorillas — are our closest living relatives. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature classes them all as endangered or critically endangered because of hunting and deforestation.
Early efforts to conserve these species in strictly controlled protected areas often led to conflict with local communities who were restricted from accessing forest resources they had used for generations.
One report, focussing on Uganda, highlights how resistance from the surrounding communities seriously threatened the ability of the authorities to manage two national parks after they were set up in 1991 to protect mountain gorillas.
In response, the government and nongovernmental organizations adopted a range of "integrated conservation and development" strategies, which aimed to both create benefits for local communities and reduce their reliance on resources within the parks – and hence their negative impact on the gorillas' habitat.
Based on 15 years of experience, the report reveals that many have achieved successes but often in different ways to what was planned. The study also found, however, that to maximize both conservation and development outcomes such initiatives will need to have a greater positive impact on the poorest households.
"Integrated conservation and development has come under some criticism in recent years," says the report’s lead author Tom Blomley. "We found that the long term engagement of a range of development and conservation organisations working in a joint manner appears to have addressed both objectives."
The second report expands the focus beyond Uganda and highlights initiatives that seek to link ape conservation with poverty reduction in 18 nations — Angola; Burundi; Cameroon; Central African Republic; Cote d'Ivoire; The Democratic Republic of Congo; Equatorial Guinea; Gabon; Ghana; Guinea; Guinea Bissau; Liberia; Nigeria; Congo; Rwanda; Sierra Leone; Tanzania; and Uganda.
Activities range from simple outreach initiatives that aim to improve local attitudes to conservation, to initiatives that give communities decision making power over natural resource management and ways to benefit from them.
"These conservation initiatives are making a concerted effort to address poverty issues, but surprisingly few of them seem to explore whether or not they have been successful by measuring or reporting on the results of their efforts," says Chris Sandbrook, who headed the review.
Much of the best poverty impact data comes from studies of great ape tourism, which is a popular way of converting the presence of apes into money for local development – although even here the revenue from tourism is rarely shared with local people at a significant enough scale to give them real incentives to support conservation.
Many alternative initiatives exist, such as those that promote agriculture as an alternative to living off forest resources and, conversely, those that promote sustainable use of forest resources and so create incentives for conservation. But there are many missed opportunities and factors that can limit efforts to link great ape conservation and poverty reduction.
"These studies highlight the wealth of existing experience and provide key lessons for initiatives that seek to link conservation and poverty reduction," says Dilys Roe, coordinator of the 'Poverty and Conservation Learning Group', an international network of conservation and development organisations that IIED hosts. "We hope that they learn from these experiences in order to build on the success stories – and avoid some of the pitfalls and significantly increase the impact of conservation on poverty.”"
The studies were done with funding support from the Arcus Foundation, a leading global grantmaking foundation advancing pressing social justice and conservation issues. Specifically, Arcus works to advance LGBT equality, as well as to conserve and protect the great apes.
END
Lilongwe to have Maximum Security Prison
BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR
But Phiri said his office does not have information relating to the movement of the Blantyre-based reformatory facility.
Our sources had confided that Chichiri Prison will be moving to Chigumula because the current structure is standing on a private property. The confidants further explained that the land is “too small for expansion”.
END
 |
| Sorry state inside Zomba Prison: Picture courtesy of amnesty.org |
Malawi Prison Service (PS) has finally acquired land in Lilongwe where it is planning to construct a state-of-the-art maximum prison facility in place of Zomba Central Prison.
Zomba Central Prison, built in 1935, is the only maximum security prison in the country, holding prisoners with long sentences or serious offences, but human rights activists have condemned it for its poor conditions describing it “a death trap”.
PS spokesperson Evance Phiri said in an interview Thursday that the new prison facility will ease congestion problems that Malawian reformatory centres are best known for.
Phiri disclosed the new prison was a response to human rights’ call to have another facility in place of Zomba.
“Yes, it’s true that we are constructing a new maximum security prison in Lilongwe near Chitedze area. You know that human rights campaigners have long condemned Zomba Prison as unfit for human accommodation,” said Phiri.
The prison PRO further disclosed that work on the new prison has already started, but could not say when the project will be through.
“It’s in phases; so I can’t say actual dates of its completion. But suffice to say that after this project, we’ll carry out a mass rehabilitation project on Zomba Prison to give it a new face make it more habitable,” he explained.
Asked how much the project will cost, Phiri said it was difficult to quantify “because it run in phases”. So far, the prison department has already spent K80 million on and blue-print design) and compensating people surrounding the location of the new prison.
 |
| This is how prisoners sleep: Pic courtesy of amnesty.org |
Earlier in the week, reports were rife to the effect that prison authorities intend to relocate Chichiri Prison to Chigumula where there is enough space for expansion and development.
But Phiri said his office does not have information relating to the movement of the Blantyre-based reformatory facility.
Our sources had confided that Chichiri Prison will be moving to Chigumula because the current structure is standing on a private property. The confidants further explained that the land is “too small for expansion”.
END
DFID dangles K300m for new schools
BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR
District Education Manageress (DEM) Ruth Samati-Kambali confirmed the development on Thursday and said new schools, which cost not less than K300 million, will greatly contribute towards the achievement of quality education saying congestion was one of the factors compromising the standards of education in the country.
Kambali explained that enrolments in most of the schools in Blantyre Urban have exceeded the recommended pupil-class of 100 pupils per class.
Current overall enrolment of Blantyre Urban schools stands at 144,000 while the average pupil-class ratio is at 157.
“One school will be constructed at Angelogoveya to decongest Kapeni Demonstration School; BCA will have a new school to decongest Naizi; then Chapima Heights to decongest Mbayani,” explained Kambali.
Malabada will also have a new school, which will cater for congested pupils from Makata, Chitsime and Nyambadwe Primary Schools.
The DEM stated that a proposal has already been submitted for the new schools, but it will be up to ministry to source funds elsewhere although DFID has already offered to support.
But Kambali could not commit herself on the actual date when the projects are expected to start because there are other logistics, which have to be sorted out before the projects could take off.
“At Angelogoveya, for example, we are facing a challenge to identify land where the school can stand. We are waiting for the Blantyre City Council to allocate us land for the projects,” she said.
“These projects should have started by July this year,” she added.
But Blantyre City Council (BCC) director of Town Planning and Estate Services Costly Chanza expressed ignorance about the development and stated they could not allocate land to the education authorities without being approached.
Chanza, however, expressed willingness to assist albeit “that would need thorough consultations”.
“The only readily available place we can allocate them now is inside Chichiri Prison…We’ve a space where a school can be constructed, but the challenge is that the school will cater for inmates only,” he said.
END
 |
| Chivawa Primary School in Mchinji: Classrooms in a developed Malawi |
British bilateral donor, Development Fund for International Development (DFID), has made availalbe funds for the construction of four new schools in Blantyre Urban Education District to decongest some primary schools, Maranatha Mzungu has learnt.
District Education Manageress (DEM) Ruth Samati-Kambali confirmed the development on Thursday and said new schools, which cost not less than K300 million, will greatly contribute towards the achievement of quality education saying congestion was one of the factors compromising the standards of education in the country.
Kambali explained that enrolments in most of the schools in Blantyre Urban have exceeded the recommended pupil-class of 100 pupils per class.
Current overall enrolment of Blantyre Urban schools stands at 144,000 while the average pupil-class ratio is at 157.
“One school will be constructed at Angelogoveya to decongest Kapeni Demonstration School; BCA will have a new school to decongest Naizi; then Chapima Heights to decongest Mbayani,” explained Kambali.
Malabada will also have a new school, which will cater for congested pupils from Makata, Chitsime and Nyambadwe Primary Schools.
The DEM stated that a proposal has already been submitted for the new schools, but it will be up to ministry to source funds elsewhere although DFID has already offered to support.
But Kambali could not commit herself on the actual date when the projects are expected to start because there are other logistics, which have to be sorted out before the projects could take off.
“At Angelogoveya, for example, we are facing a challenge to identify land where the school can stand. We are waiting for the Blantyre City Council to allocate us land for the projects,” she said.
“These projects should have started by July this year,” she added.
But Blantyre City Council (BCC) director of Town Planning and Estate Services Costly Chanza expressed ignorance about the development and stated they could not allocate land to the education authorities without being approached.
Chanza, however, expressed willingness to assist albeit “that would need thorough consultations”.
“The only readily available place we can allocate them now is inside Chichiri Prison…We’ve a space where a school can be constructed, but the challenge is that the school will cater for inmates only,” he said.
END
Education managers violating teachers’ rights
BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR
Speaking after visiting offices of South West Education Division (Swed) offices in Blantyre, Sajeni stated that the ministry was aware that some bosses in the education sector that deliberately close doors to teachers who want to raise concerns thereby demotivating the staff.
“Some education managers and manageresses literary shout at a teacher who comes into their office to raise a concern [of some sort]. What picture are you giving to your juniors?” he asked.
“Let us be humble and respectful to those we’ve been employed to serve. We are where we are because there are people we’ve been employed to serve; so let us give them the respect they deserve,” said Sajeni.
Earlier, the deputy minister appealed to the teachers and education managers to stop living in what he described as “perpetual misery and complaints” and, instead, dedicate themselves to work saying education is the engine for future development of the country.
In her speech, Swed Education Division Manageress (EDM) Sr. Eunice Dambo highlighted a number of challenges impeding the growth of education in her area of jurisdiction.
Among others, Dambo said the current budgetary allocation her division gets from the Ministry of Education was not enough to cater for all its activities in a year besides the usual problems of shortage of teaching staff, classrooms and lack of teachers’ houses in schools.
“Our budget ceiling falls far short of our activity plans. We would like to appeal to the ministry to consider increasing the allocation to meet our [educational] needs,” prayed Dambo.
At the same meeting, Member of Parliament for Blantyre City East John Bande asked the Ministry of Education to consider extending the newly introduced hardship allowance to urban areas saying “teaching profession is one whether you’re in rural or urban school”.
END
 |
| Watipaso and granny in Lilongwe in February, 2010 |
Deputy Minister of Education responsible for Basic and Secondary School, Wictor Songazaudzu Sajeni, on Wednesday could not hide his displeasure with some education managers who he accused of violating the rights of fellow workers and turning lives of teachers miserable.
“Some education managers and manageresses literary shout at a teacher who comes into their office to raise a concern [of some sort]. What picture are you giving to your juniors?” he asked.
“Let us be humble and respectful to those we’ve been employed to serve. We are where we are because there are people we’ve been employed to serve; so let us give them the respect they deserve,” said Sajeni.
Earlier, the deputy minister appealed to the teachers and education managers to stop living in what he described as “perpetual misery and complaints” and, instead, dedicate themselves to work saying education is the engine for future development of the country.
In her speech, Swed Education Division Manageress (EDM) Sr. Eunice Dambo highlighted a number of challenges impeding the growth of education in her area of jurisdiction.
Among others, Dambo said the current budgetary allocation her division gets from the Ministry of Education was not enough to cater for all its activities in a year besides the usual problems of shortage of teaching staff, classrooms and lack of teachers’ houses in schools.
“Our budget ceiling falls far short of our activity plans. We would like to appeal to the ministry to consider increasing the allocation to meet our [educational] needs,” prayed Dambo.
At the same meeting, Member of Parliament for Blantyre City East John Bande asked the Ministry of Education to consider extending the newly introduced hardship allowance to urban areas saying “teaching profession is one whether you’re in rural or urban school”.
END
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