Federation Sensitize Community leaders on Slum Upgrading

Chinsapo community leaders

The Malawi Federation conducted a sensitization meeting on slum upgrading with community leaders from Chinsapo, one of the two informal settlements (the other one is Mtandire) that have qualified for a pilot upgrading  project in the City of Lilongwe. The meeting, which took place at CCODE offices on Tuesday March 9,2011, was attended by chiefs, village heads as well as Traditional Authority Malili from the area.

"This has been a very fruitful meeting. At first we had fears. We heard stories that the Lilongwe City Council (LCC) was coming with graders to pave roads and demolish our homes. But the truth is that this our project and whatever is going to happen will come from us and we are happy with that," explained a visibly excited T.A Malili.

Previously, rumours were rife in Chinsapo Township that the Federation was conspiring with LCC to force development on the people in the area.  CCODE and the Federation are main  implementing partners with LCC in the informal settlement upgrading project funded by the Bill and Melinda  Gates Foundation under Global Programme for Integrated Municipal Governance.

CCODE and the Federation will carry out community mobilization campaigns, profiling and enumerations among other activities under the project. The project is expected to bridge the longstanding gap between communities and the Council, increase community participation in planning of the City and make LCC more responsive to people's   needs.