National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC) was established by the constitution of the republic of Malawi (Section 149 of 1994) to ensure transparency, accountability, reporting and good governance of public funds in Local Authorities (LAs).

NLGFC also mobilizes financial resources for other recurrent transactions and development from government and development partners for allocation and disbursement to LAs. The National Local Government Finance Committee is mandated to facilitate fiscal decentralization, financial management and local development in local governments.

NLGFC is implementing Climate Smart Enhanced Public Works Programme (EPWP) pilot in 10 district councils: Chitipa, Karonga, Nkhotakota, Kasungu, Dowa, Lilongwe, Balaka, Chiradzulu, Phalombe and Blantrye. The focus of the EPWP will be on integrated watershed management (IWM) covering sub-projects such as land resource conservation, afforestation, environment and road infrastructure as well as sustainable livelihoods.

In relation to livelihoods, the focus will be on technical assistance and training in sustainable livelihood activities which will be provided to households through a strategic linkage to the Community Savings and Investment Promotion Programme (COMSIP). This will enable participating households to diversify their income and acquire productive assets.

EPWP pilot aims to address the challenges faced during the implementation of the Malawi Social Action Fund (MASAF) IV Productive Public Works Programme, which included; low compliance with technical norms and standards, creation of large catchments that were difficult to manage,  limited technical knowhow on the part of extension workers on how to manage the sub-projects, inadequate financial support to extension workers for their operations, non-adherence to the watershed logic planning, limited monitoring and supervision by local authorities, lapses in procurement and financial management in local authorities among other things.

These challenges resulted in the creation of low quality community assets, and lack of ownership to sustain such assets.  The EPWP pilot endeavors to address these issues in preparation for the implementation of the future public works programme interventions.

Climate Smart EPWP targets 1,000 participants per district and a maximum of 5 micro-catchments in each of the districts not larger than 250 hectares each. The 10 districts were selected based on the availability of data for these districts in the Unified Beneficiary Registry (UBR) and a composite index of three parameters on poverty levels, food insecurity and land degradation.

EPWP has been deliberately designed to achieve the dual objective of strengthening household resilience to shocks and creating durable community assets. The programme will target ultra-poor households with labour availability in the 10 district councils selected for the pilot which will be registered to participate in the programme for a period of 8 months.

The following are the guiding principles for implementation of the EPWP:

• Fair and transparent beneficiary selection: Participants will be selected from the UBR into the Mthandizi MIS with an effective appeal mechanism to address inclusion and exclusion errors. The selected list of participants will be further verified and vetted by the community.
• Timely and predictable transfers: Beneficiaries will work for 12 days in a month and will be paid after two months. Transfers will be timely and predictable; wages will be paid within 2 weeks after completion of 24 days’ work. This means that participants will be paid 4 times during the 8-month period of the pilot.
• Productive safety net: The EPWP pilot is a productive safety net, which means that it not only includes a commitment to provide a safety net that protects food consumption and household assets but it is also expected to address some of the underlying causes of food insecurity and contribute to economic growth in its own right. The productive element comes from the infrastructure and improved natural resources base created through the EPWP pilot and from the multiplier effects of the cash transfers on the local economy.