Council for non-Governmental Organisations in Malawi (CONGOMA) in June 2019 co-convened a meeting together with partners such as National Planning Commission, UNDP and IM Swedish Development Partner to discuss effective implementation and coordination mechanisms for the MGDS III and SDGs.

In his opening statement Executive Director of CONGOMA Mr. Ronald Mtonga said the platform gave hope on finding formulae as regards to how different development stakeholders can learn from each other; fit into each other; measure and monitor same thing; and move together while realising tangible development results.

Building on that Country Director of IM Swedish and Development Partner Mr. Steve Tahuna emphasized that he hoped the discussions would be instrumental in enhancing public services through effective implementation of both MGDS III and SDGs.

Adding further, Economic Advisor at UNDP Dr. Moses Sichei emphasised the importance of collaboration between different actors.

“A shared vision should be embraced while enhancing greater coordination between and among Government, Parliament, private sector, media, development partners, NGOs, local communities and disadvantaged groups; and building and fostering strong partnerships with different groups, including the youth”, said Dr.Sichei.

Agreeing with Dr. Sichei, Director General of National Planning Commission Dr. Thomas Munthali, agreed with the importance of collaboration and called for a multi-stakeholder approach in the implementation of MGDS III, SADC development frameworks, Agenda 2063 and SDGs by working together to accelerate national development.

“Harmonising efforts are imperative to maximise usage of available resources and avoid duplicating efforts”, said Dr.  Munthali.

He therefore pledged that NPC would ensure that formal coordination mechanisms are in place in order to scale up and scale out national development.

During the meeting, presentations were made on the topics of CSO coordination in SDGs, social accountability programme, economic planning and development, localising implementation of MGDS III and SDGs, case studies from other countries on SDG coordination as well as Sector Working Groups reporting on their progress.

Moving forward, stakeholders made resolutions to empower the National Planning Commission to have a joint oversight role among Sector Working Groups (SWG), establish accountability mechanisms for each SWG and establishing a basket fund for SWGs to ensure that no such group is left behind due to finances. Further resolutions were made to ensure that the Sector Working Groups are multi-stakeholder and including all players such as Government, DPs, CSOs, Private Sector and media, among others as well as ensuring that each group has a progress tracking mechanism.