World Bank funds community-driven projects

A World Bank cash injection of US $60 million aims to make a difference to Malawians by financing the construction of development projects that communities themselves have identified. World Bank senior agricultural services specialist, Francis Mbuka, told IRIN on Wednesday that the Malawi Social Action Fund (MASAF) was into its third incarnation since 1995. "The fund is designed to help the communities deal with their local problems - basically to provide services to the people in the communities. It's done through the communities being organised and then trained by MASAF to access the funds. In order to access the funds they have to contribute 20 percent [of project costs in cash or in kind, e.g. construction materials], and 80 percent is then provided by the fund for the identified public projects - roads, bridges, clinics, schools and so forth," Mbuka said. A World Bank statement said the bank's board had approved the funding on Tuesday. MASAF promoted a "bottom-up, demand-driven approach to development, supports safety net activities, facilitates capacity building for communities to implement demand-driven programmes, and facilitates investments through savings clubs," Norbert Mugwagwa, World Bank task manager for the programme, was quoted as saying. Mbuka explained that MASAF 3, as the current three-year social action fund was called, could make a difference to the lives of Malawi's vulnerable populations. "Malawi has a lot of vulnerable people who live below the poverty level and, therefore, in a year like this year [of food shortages] ... this programme is designed to take care of those as well," he said. The programme had components to help ensure assistance to vulnerable groups such as widows and widowers, the elderly, malnourished children aged under five, orphans and their foster parents, the disabled, and persons affected by HIV/AIDS. "There are three major sections to the MASAF. The first is the PWPs - public works programmes - which help vulnerable groups to get jobs in their own villages, doing road works, for example. For this they get paid a minimum wage that would help them meet their food requirements while working their own gardens. So, they would work part of the day at a MASAF programme, and then they go to work in their own gardens - it's really a good safety net," Mbuka explained. The second part of the MASAF was the "SSP - sponsored sub-project - where finances would go to an NGO to help vulnerable groups like AIDS patients, orphans, the disabled, people like that". Mbuka explained that the NGOs identified vulnerable people and would apply for funds, "and say 'look we would like to help with ABC', and if MASAF is satisfied with that, then the funds are disbursed to the community, on the understanding that the community should have taken part in the design of that [assistance] programme". The third aspect of the MASAF was the community sub-project (CSP). "This is where the community involvement is the key: the community identify that they have a need, they define their programme, set up objectives and targets, and form a committee which looks after the affairs of the CSP project," Mbuka said. "All MASAF's experiences will be documented and analysed, and the knowledge gained will be used for training and shared, to better improve other communities and projects," the World Bank added.