China Ministry of Commerce grants $5.9 million to help funds Disaster Risk Reduction Small Grants Scheme with UNDP (Linked to Record ID#58235)

Project narrative

In December 2014, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce committed 5,914,251 USD for the Disaster Management and Risk Reduction Project, according to a report from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The project provides small grants for projects proposed by non-governmental organizations and local-level community groups in rural Malawi communities and general funding to the Malawi Dept of Disaster Management Affairs, according to the UNDP. The funding will contribute to construction of flood shelters, levees and other infrastructure in Malawi's disaster-prone communities to improve the resilience of local people to natural disasters. The project is called the Disaster Risk Reduction Small Grants Scheme (SGS) and is implemented through the Malawi Department of Disaster Management Affairs. Its estimated end date is December 2022. The program operated in 2012 with only funds from the UN and government of Malawi earlier. The UNDP further reports that the project is one component of the China – Africa – UNDP Cooperation Programme started in December 2013 and is in line with the Memorandum of Understanding signed between China and UNDP in September 2010. According to the UNDP website, disbursements started in 2014, and 1,055,531 USD has been disbursed as of 2020. According to the website, the total amount contributed was 5,914,251 USD. On May 10, 2017 the preliminary acceptance ceremony of the China-Malawi-UNDP Tripartite Disaster Risk Management Cooperation Project was held in the Salma region of Malawi. The ceremony was attended by Ambassador Wang, UN Coordinator in Malawi Mia Sepu, a UNDP Representative to Malawi, Deputy Director of the Disaster Management Committee Manda, Assistant Country Director of the UNDP Mission Office in China Kunussen, Professor Fang Weihua of the Institute of Disaster Reduction and Emergency Management at Peking University, local officials and district elders from Salma. Nearly 200 people attended. As of 2017, the Malawi Disaster Management Commission had selected 15 disaster-prone communities from more than 140 proposals received to pilot them, and six projects have so far been funded and implemented, including four shelter centres and two small levees. The May 10 acceptance ceremony was held in the Community of Abu Wenz in the Salma area, where the Disaster Risk Reduction Small Grants Scheme has built a multi-functional disaster shelter, temporary canteens, toilets, wells and other facilities. On March 16, 2018, a handover ceremony was held for a disaster risk reduction project in Malawi. The project is jointly funded by the Chinese government and the United Nations Development Programme, according to the Chinese Embassy.