Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2007. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Mail & Guardian Online - May 16, 2007
Spotlight on Malawi: Small Aids organisations in Malawi are being monitored after a recent move by the National Aids Commission (NAC) to suspend financial aid to them because many cannot account for funds allocated to them.
But community-based organisations (CBOs) have warned that the NAC's decision could jeopardise their efforts to curb the spread of the epidemic in a country with one of the highest HIV infection rates in the world. Over 30 CBOs have failed to account for money from the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, distributed by the NAC.
"Some of the CBOs in Karonga [district] cannot do their work because the NAC has suspended funding on allegations that they swindled money meant for HIV/Aids programmes. The problem is with the NAC as well, because they just give out money to organisations without finding out how accountable these CBOs are," said an official from Karonga District Assembly.
Many CBO members who start local HIV/Aids interventions have no experience of running an organisation, and struggle to write funding proposals or report to donors. Organisations such as the Malawi Interfaith Aids Association, an umbrella body of faith-based organisations, are calling on the NAC to help them manage their finances.
The donor community and bodies such as the NAC also have a responsibility to build the capacity of CBOs, said Donald Makwakwa, programme officer for the Malawi National Association of People Living with HIV/Aids (Manaso).
The CBOs have also accused the NAC of delaying payments to projects that qualified for funding, and have expressed concern that such delays pose a serious threat to their continued existence.
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