LILONGWE: Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) – Dan Church Aid (DCA) has said fighting inequality by providing equal opportunities to men and women, the poor, and the rich in the country is the foundation for ending extreme poverty hence achieving sustainable development goal number one.
Different stakeholders from organizations partnering with NCA-DCA Joint Country Program Malawi (JCP) have agreed to implement this project in a planning meeting held on 19th May 2021 organized to touch base on how they are going to implement this in different districts set for the year 2021 to 2024.
Much emphasis was put on fighting inequalities in the country in order to achieve sustainable development goal number one of ending extreme poverty by ensuring equal opportunities among men and women, the poor and the rich.
The planning meeting for the projects of fighting inequalities (FI), Climate Smart Economic Empowerment (CSEE), and gender-based violence (GBV) under the Norwegian Church Aid and Dan Church Aid- Joint Country Program (JCP) was held at sunbird hotel in Lilongwe.
In an interview with Luntha Television, Bemnet Menna Qlango, head of finance and procurement at NCA-DCA, said the meeting is imperative for it will help in addressing the challenges of inequality that Malawi as a country is facing.
“As a Joint Country Program in Malawi, we have an objective to reach the communities especially in three main thematic areas which are the climate-smart economic empowerment, GBV and also fighting inequalities.
“So these thematic areas were most common in both NCA-DCA in previous years so it is a good synergy for us to join forces to make sure that we have a more positive impact for the community in Malawi in addressing these issues,” Bemnet Menna Qlango said.
According to NCA – DCA Program Officer for Fight Inequality, Mac Donald Mphangwe, fighting inequality strategic initiative really leads so much into the sustainable development goals because when you look at sustainable development goal number one which talks about elimination of poverty, obviously we are relating it to SDG 10 which also talks about reducing inequalities.
“You cannot end poverty without tackling and fighting inequalities. Fighting inequality is kind of a pre-condition to ensuring that we eliminate poverty,” Mphangwe said.
Making a comment on the matter, Bertha Lipipa Phiri, Executive Director for Malawi Economic Justice Network (MEJN), an implementing partner in the fighting inequality project, said they aim to equip women and girls with knowledge to demand equal rights in accessing social and economic services hence curbing the disparities that exist among Malawians.
“We are one of the implementing partners particularly under a program, fighting inequalities. This is a very critical program in which we would want to see people assisted, households properly assisted, not in isolation of what government is doing per-say because fighting inequalities is under the policies that government does under social protection and social security,” Bertha Lipipa Phiri said.
Also present at the meeting were namely: Malawi Human Rights Resource Center (MHRRC), Catholic Commission of Justice and Peace (CCJP), Luntha TV, Evangelical Association of Malawi (EAM), Foundation of Civic Education and Social Empowerment (FOCESE), Youth and Society (YAS), SPRODETA and Churches Action in Relief and Development (CARD),
Partners in this project will work on teaching women and girls to demand equal rights and opportunities in social protection and economic services.
By Alinafe E. Phiri, Luntha TV