LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-The country’s civil rights group under the banner Joining Forces Alliance has challenged the Parliamentary Cluster Committee on Social Welfare to increase the budget allocation for children protection programs implementation in district councils arguing that the current MK26 million is too little.
Joining Forces Alliance chairperson Janet Chidothi told the Social and Community, and Local Cluster Interface Meeting on 2025/2026 Social Sector Budget Analysis on Thursday in the capital Lilongwe that children protection programs need enough resources hence the call for increase.
Chidothi also asked the committee to lobby the government to prioritize secondary education not only basic education in this year’s national budget.
She observed, “If you look at the budget for secondary school education, it has actually declined. But looking at our population, you notice that we have a high population that is actually transitioning to secondary school education.
“We need the government to prioritize secondary education again at this time looking at the social protection, child protection, yes, they’ve said it has increased”.
Chidothi adds, “How can the council operate with 26 million for the whole year, we think child protection issues will not be addressed in the country with that kind of allocation.
“So what we are recommending the members of parliament, as they deliberating on this budget they should prioritize resources towards child protection, education and other essential areas which can support the welfare of children in the country”.
In his response, Parliamentary Committee on Social Welfare Chairperson Savel Kafwafwa said backed the government for making strides towards improving funding to children.
But Kafwafwa was quick to observe that some areas need more money in district councils for children protection program implementation.
“We will discuss with the Minister of Finance, if we can move some funds somewhere to improve early childhood development programs in the country,” he assured.
NGO-CCR, ActionAid with financial and technical support from the European Union (EU), Unicef organised the interface meeting which attracted participants from civil rights groups on children, media, government officials, legislators and others.