The Council for NGOs in Malawi is in the process of developing its Strategic Plan for the period, 2024-2028. Consultations on the same have been going on and so far the Council has consulted the following institutions: World Vision International, ADRA, The United Nations representative in Malawi, Districts CSO Networks, Sector Networks and Ministry of Local Government, Unity and Culture. Issues that came out of these consultations include the following;

They recognize CONGOMA’s role of coordination, that it coordinates all the NGOs in Malawi, specifically that it plays dual roles of compliance check for NGOs and a membership organization. However, they also realize that there is a confusion between NGO Regulatory Authority and CONGOMA on their roles as stated in the NGO Act Amended 2022. This, they pointed out that there is need for CONGOMA to be very clear about its Mandate in the Act.

General views on CONGOMA came out as follows;

CONGOMA should meet aspirations of members, it should be a platform for amplifying the voice and concerns of NGOs, it should represent NGOs, it should be a platform for joint advocacy on common issues and that it should be able to resolve conflicts among NGOs.

It was also noted that CONGOMA needs to coordinate, accountability issues within the NGOs encouraging financial audit reporting. The allowance toxicity syndrome also needs to be resolved through CONGOMA to make sure that there is no diversion of investments from project activities to consumption and reduction of ownership of development outcomes. It should promote mindset change among the NGOs.

There is need for CONGOMA to coordinate the disaster interventions amongst the NGOs, while the spread of NGO projects in the country is also another issue that deprived deserving communities from enjoying NGO projects.

The UN recommended that CONGOMA should be the main convener of NGOs so that the UN should speak to the NGOs through it instead of each NGO going to talk to the UN on its own. The UN also suggested that CONGOMA should coordinate the fundamental differences about the NGO Act regulations between the International NGOs and the Local NGOs (intra-CONGOMA Dialogue), and coordinate NGOs contributions towards the Mw2063, MIP-1 and Sustainable Development Goals through evidence.

CONGOMA should ensure that NGOs have complete independence on their finances divorced from the State. This is one main issue that came out on capacity building, how CONGOMA can help the NGOs to be financially independent. It should build their capacity on how to produce audited financial statements, address due diligence shortfalls of NGOs and build capacity of local NGOs for them to be on path of financial sustainability by becoming more competitive on the grant market. Financial sustainability drive should be the duty of each NGO on its own.

CONGOMA continues to consult its stakeholders on the strategic plan.