Karonga Diocese Justice and Peace Department Concludes Two Projects
By Noel Chatepa
On January 16, 2025, the Justice and Peace department of the Karonga diocese held an exit interface with the Karonga DEC to mark the conclusion of two projects, the Gender Based Violence (GBV) project and the Fighting Inequalities project. After five years of implementation, these projects have reached their end.
The first project, titled “Enhancing Effective Protection and Promotion of Rights of Women and Girls from Gender Based Violence through Improved Justice Delivery, Self-advocacy, and Self-activism,” was implemented across several areas including T/A Kyungu – GVH Mwangolera, T/A Kilupula – GVH Lameck and Chisi, as well as T/A Mwakaboko – GVH Mwandambo. This initiative aimed to empower women and girls by improving access to justice and encouraging self-advocacy against GBV.
Simultaneously, the “Enhancing Social Accountability in Local Governance Project to Reduce Inequalities for an Inclusive Malawi” was executed in T/A Wasambo in Karonga. This project focused on fostering social accountability within local governance structures to ensure that marginalized communities could voice their concerns and participate actively in decision-making processes.
In an interview with Mr. Simeon Bwinga, the Assistant Monitoring and Evaluation Officer for the Karonga Diocese, he discussed the recent phasing out of two projects by CCJP and highlighted their key achievements. One notable success was the economic empowerment of 68 survivors of gender-based violence (GBV), a project initially implemented by EAM for four years before CCJP took over in 2024.“These women were provided with sewing machines, enabling them to generate income and sustain themselves,” Bwinga explained. He also mentioned that EAM had distributed goats to some survivors as part of their efforts during the initial four years.
Bwinga addressed some challenges encountered during the implementation of the GBV project, particularly mentioning issues related to trafficking which is rampant in the project sites. He pointed out that a significant barrier was the lack of witnesses for certain cases, especially defilement cases where perpetrators were often relatives. “Most relatives would not come forward to be witnesses due to fears of breaking family ties,” he stated.
Turning to the Fighting Inequalities project, Bwinga discussed another key achievement which is the formation of mining committees comprising of chiefs and community duty bearers who collaborated closely with CCJP at Hara and Lisikwa coal mines. “These committees played a crucial role in exposing injustices faced by mine workers, such as working without Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), lacking contracts, and experiencing difficulties in receiving compensation for injuries sustained on duty.”
Bwinga emphasized that CCJP has been actively working alongside these mining committees and the Karonga District Labour Office to engage mine companies in discussions about corporate social responsibility. This led to the completion of a nurses and clinicians house by the mining companies.
Another notable outcome from the Fighting Inequalities project was the completion of a mortuary at Chilumba Health Center through efforts facilitated by a Public Expenditure Tracking (PET) committee established by CCJP.
Both projects were funded by NCA-DCA Joint Country Programme (Norwegian Church Aid – DanChurchAid