Phalombe District Council says training catchment management committees is one way of ensuring sustainability of projects under the Enhanced Public Works Programme (EPWP).
Phalombe district forestry officer Moses Mtambo made the remarks on Friday on the sidelines of a four-day training session for catchment management committee members in integrated catchment management planning.
He said the committees were the backbone of implementation of projects under the pilot programme.
Said Mtambo: “So, the training was designed to facilitate community ownership to ensure sustainability.
“In part, the training involves a situation analysis in which the committees will evaluate and understand their catchments’ current situations and suggest better ways of managing them.”
He said the system used will bring tailor-made solutions and options of catchment management.
One of the trainees, Amos Magombo from Migowi Catchment Committee, commended the bottom-up approach applied in the trainings.
In the implementation of Enhanced Public Works Programme (EPWP), National Local Government Finance Committee, which funds the programme, has emphasised on capacity building of key implementation structures to facilitate the success of the pilot project.
The programme, which replaced Public Works Programme, is being implemented in 10 districts, namely Phalombe, Blantyre, Balaka, Chiradzulu, Dowa, Nkhotakota, Lilongwe Kasungu, Karonga and Chitipa.
