The NGO Regulatory Authority has said that the Ministry of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare has submitted the NGO Act Regulations meant to operationalize the NGO Amendment Act, 2022 to the Ministry of Justice.
Speaking during a breakfast meeting with NGOs at Capital Hotel in Lilongwe, NGORA Chief Executive Officer Edward Chileka-Banda, said the Authority had submitted the regulations to the Ministry of Gender, community Development and Social Welfare, which in turn has submitted them to the Ministry of Justice to be taken to parliament.
“I would like to inform you that NGORA has submitted the final draft regulations to the Ministry of Gender with an advisory note on all key issues noted from the input made by different stakeholders. This input was brought up during the consultative meetings and the Ministry of Gender has further submitted the regulations to the Ministry of Justice,” he said.
The CEO further urged participants to take part in the NGO Terrorist Financing Risk Assessment currently taking place. He said that Malawi is required under the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to conduct an NGO risk assessment in the NGO sector to identify and profile the nature of threats posed by terrorist entities.
“This Risk Assessment will therefore help the government identify organizations at risk of being abused by terrorists and help Malawi to address the deficiencies identified in the mutual evaluation report. It should be noted however, that the evaluation form has been changed and removed anonymity provided for after being advised that the provision of institutional names is a must. This will help Malawi to properly identify organizations at risk and properly develop a risk-based system to combat terrorism financing,” said Chileka-Banda.
The CEO also updated NGOs that for 2024, NGORA plans to hold sensitization meetings on the key changes in the NGO Act and regulations, develop guidelines that will help facilitate partnerships amongst NGOs and MDAs as well as conduct a capacity building program. The Authority will also conduct a geo-mapping exercise which will help promote fair distribution of NGOs and alignment of interventions to national agenda, conduct monitoring of interventions based on submitted annual reports and hold the NGO Day.