USAID project in Muchinga commended

The Provincial Administration in Muchinga Province has appealed to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to extend the USAID/Accountability Governance for Improved Service Delivery (AGIS) project to other districts in the Province.

Speaking on behalf of the Provincial Permanent Secretary Davison Mulenga, Deputy Permanent Secretary Jonathan Ng’onga said the USAID/AGIS project which is running in three (3) districts in Muchinga province is slowly yielding positive results.

Capt. Mulenga said if the project is being implemented in all the districts in the province, it will help improve good governance and link to development outcomes in the education service delivery as per its aim.

The PS added that the project which seeks to strengthen internal control, internal audit, procurement including expenditure tracking among others within the two Ministries, Ministry of health and education as they present the greatest opportunities for improving transparency and accountability.

He further thanked USAID/AGIS for the financial support and the trainings that have since been taking place from the time when the project started.

And Capt. Mulenga said the project should be extended to other districts in the province for the smooth running of offices.

And speaking earlier USAID/AGIS Chief of party, Maureen Simuyandi said the project which started in October 2017 is currently running in nine (9)districts in the country.

Ms Simuyandi added that in Muchinga Province the project is running in three (3) districts namely Chinsali, Mpika and Mafinga.

”We are here to meet with the stakeholders in the three districts were the project is being carried out to assess the impact of the inventions put in place since the project started, ” she said.

Ms Simuyandi added that the team is also getting feedback since the stakeholders were trained and also to appreciate some of the challenges faced by the stakeholders.

She further thanked the provincial administration and government for allowing them to run the project in Muchinga Province.

Ms Simuyandi said this when her team from Lusaka paid a courtesy call on the Provincial Administration.

The team later proceeded to meet other stakeholders from the Ministry of Education who shared their experiences since the first training to date.

And Ministry of Education Reginal Accountant Sylvia Chungu said they have been a huge progress recorded since the first training in accountability and transparency.

Mrs Chungu said Muchinga Province has shown more transparent and accountable practices adding that service delivery has also been more efficient and effective.

USAID/AGIS project is a five year technical assistance activity that seeks to strengthen transparency and accountability in the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health.