Stepping Up the Influence of CSOs: Chikomwe CBO Gets Mtapwa Bridge Off the Ground
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
Located in the area of Senior Group Village Headman Maliro under Traditional Authority Chowe in Mangochi district, Chikomwe CBO is one of the five community-based organisations in Malawi that have benefited from the Milimo Local Capacity Building Activity, which was implemented by the Creative Centre for Community Mobilisation (CRECCOM) from 2021 to 2025 with 1.7 million USD funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
The Milimo Activity aimed at strengthening the capacity of local institutions to deliver on their mandates by helping them in designing and implementing impactful development interventions, using local resources while increasing financial independence and self-reliance.
For decades during rainy seasons, the people from villages under Senior Group Village Headman Maliro had been struggling to access health services, schools, and markets, most of which are located around Chimbende, an area separated from Maliro by Mtapwa wetland.
The earth road across the Mtapwa wetland connects the Mwasa villages and the areas around Chimbende Trading Centre via Balamaliro. In the absence of a concrete bridge, the Mtapwa wetland area was impassable for earth-road users from the Maliro villages, as it was heavily flooded.
“One of the challenges that I faced in my business as a motorcycle hire operator was that this Mtapwa area gets so flooded when it rains; hence, I ended up taking the longer routes to cycle my customers from Maliro to Chimbende, which was time-consuming, especially when I’m carrying patients,” explained John Mkhize, who is one of the Mtapwa road users.
Echoing Mkhezi, another road user, Mercy Hassan, who is a farmer, said that the Mtapwa wetland area really gets so flooded, hence affecting her agribusiness.
“I am a rice and sweet potato farmer, so Chimbende Trading Centre is where I usually sell my farm produce. As such, farming gets affected when this road gets heavily flooded, as the market becomes hardly accessible," Hassan asserted.
According to Chikomwe CBO Director Rabson Suman, the absence of a concrete bridge at Mtapwa Wetland also affected access to health services and education in the area.
Women, especially those who are pregnant, failed to cross this area when going to the clinic during the rainy season. Learners and even teachers who reside at Chimbende also failed to cross this area, hence jeopardising the quality of education in our community," Suman added.
However, such a huge socioeconomic challenge will now be just history, thanks to the collaboration and networking efforts by Chikomwe CBO with other stakeholders, following the capacity-building intervention by Milimo Activity.
“As community members, we never knew that a development project as big as bridge construction could be fueled by us. All we could do was to wait for the government or organisations to act for us,” explained Suman.
“But when CRECCOM under Milimo Activity came to our CBO with capacity-building activities, we learnt how we can collaborate and network with other development stakeholders like the ward councillor, Member of Parliament, Area Development Committee, and other organisations to collectively bring about development in our area," Suman added.
In September 2022, Chikomwe CBO organised an interface meeting with the ADC, chiefs, and the Ward Councillor to discuss the way forward on the need for a bridge at Mtapwa. The meeting produced the needed fruit as it triggered the processes that led to the construction of a concrete bridge at Mtapwa.
“Together with the chiefs, we presented our request to the ADC, who presented the same to the MP. The MP responded well by helping us make the required arrangements and paperwork… The Councillor presented the issue to the District Council, and eventually, the construction of the bridge started," Suman narrated.
Jafali Kabichi, an ADC member, said that Milimo Activity has not only built the capacity of the CBO but also that of the ADC members as well. “Through Chikomwe CBO, we have learnt how to properly interface with fellow key development stakeholders, and through that, the construction of Mtapwa Bridge was discussed and materialised,” Kabichi explained.
The construction of the bridge is now completed, and people in the community have started using the bridge even during the 2024 – 2025 rainy season. According to McDonald Njolo, who is Village Headman (VH) Ligonje, the bridge will help the people in his village to access food markets.
“We buy maize at Chimbende, so with this bridge, it is easier for a person to use a bicycle and buy a bag of maize at the trading center,” Njolo commented gladly. “During rainy sessions, we used to spend MK5000 just to get to the trading centre using the longer alternative route to Chimbende, yet this Mtapwa route normally costs MK1000 only for transport,” VH Ligonje added.
The road users, most of whom run small-scale businesses to bring food to their families, see the Mtapwa bridge construction as a great relief. John Mkhezi said that his motorcycle hire business will now be smoother as he will be using the shorter route to take his customers to town via Chimbende. According to Mercy Hassan, the bridge brings a sigh of relief to her as a farmer. “I am so happy that we now have this bridge because it will be easier to take farm produce to the market,” said Hassan.
According to the Chikomwe CBO director, the Milimo Activity approach, which focused on capacity building rather than material handouts, has built strong foundations for sustainable development in the community.
“Even Milimo Activity has been postponed, but the skills that we have acquired from the project will remain with us," Suman challenged. “Community members here have a sense of ownership now for their own development projects, and participation therein has greatly increased with the coming of Milimo Activity,” Suman concluded.
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