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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Community Project Funding in Malawi under the Malawi Social Action Fund (MASAF) Demand-Driven Approach: Potential for Perpetuating Imbalances in Development |
Author: | Kishindo, Paul |
Year: | 2000 |
Periodical: | Journal of Social Development in Africa (ISSN 1012-1080) |
Volume: | 15 |
Issue: | 1 |
Pages: | 5-14 |
Language: | English |
Notes: | biblio. refs. |
Geographic terms: | Malawi Southern Africa |
Subjects: | community development financing poverty Development and Technology Economics and Trade rural development Nongovernmental organizations Grass roots groups Malawi Social Action Fund |
Abstract: | Since its inception in July 1996, financial assistance to community development projects in Malawi has been provided by the Malawi Social Action Fund (Masaf), a fund specially created for this purpose and managed by a Board of Directors. The fund is part of the government's Poverty Alleviation Programme. Under this arrangement, funds go directly to communities which have requested them. This paper argues that although the Masaf approach to community development empowers local communities and provides useful experience in project management, there is a risk that some communities are left behind in the race for development funding if deliberate efforts to help them are not made. Communities with leadership that is able to support development institutions are more likely to advance in terms of infrastructural development than those lacking such leadership. There is a role for external community development agents to help communities recognize their problems in the context of the new demand-driven approach to project funding. Bibliogr., notes, sum. |