Mzimba District Council approves the Transparency Scorecard

The Mzimba district council has unanimously reached the resolution that using the Health Budget Advocacy (HBA) Transparency Scorecard is the only way forward.

The Health Budget Advocacy (HBA)Transparency Scorecard is the only way possible to improve efficiency, transparency and accountability in the health budget sector formulation, disbursement and implementation.

The Mzimba District Council Chairperson Dan Nkosi observed the HBA Transparency Scorecard roll out has come at an opportune time as the council is in the process of formulating the budget estimates for approval.

He said, "what we have learnt today is a very important tool in the budget formulation, disbursement and implementation. And I must say this training is coinciding with the budget formulation that we are doing. We were supposed to be here for budget estimates approval. And with this training we will now be able to give a critical eye to the budget estimates".

Just like Nkhata Bay, Mzimba district council has also observed the tool will help the public officers to be productive saying the the HBA Transparency Scorecard involves a lot to be done. He noted, 

"If our district is to achieve the green colour code, it means the officers will always be on their toes working. There are many reports that the public officers need to produce if we are on track with this tool. This is going to make us very productive in our respective assignments".

MamaYe is conducting the Health Budget Advocacy Scorecard training to equip the Nkhata Bay district councils with knowledge on how to formulate, track, disburse and implement the health sector budget at the district level.

MamaYe Malawi Country Director Mathias Chatuluka told the participants that the HBA transparency Scorecard is a tool that will define the key aspects to be considered and carried out in order to generate evidence of practices that are transparent and duty bearers are becoming more accountable to those they serve. He said, 

The tool will be used by district stakeholders and will focus on the health sector in order to show that processes, procedures and decisions to plan, budget and spend resources  provided from government are used  in a manner that promotes the improvement of quality of life of citizens in the district.

Chatuluka adds, besides ensuring the budget transparency and accountability, the HBA scorecard will also enhance national commitment to decentralization. He further says district councils are a focal point for development planning, management and enhancing citizen ownership.  MamaYe Malawi boss said,

This scorecard tool will help the people of Mzimba to hold to account people in authority. This mechanism is particularly helpful because we are sure it will improve our budget efficiency while ensuring that every player is more transparent and accountable.

MamaYe Malawi is implementing the Health Budget Advocacy Transparency Scorecard in Rumphi, Nkhata Bay and Mzimba district councils. The roll out of an HBA Transparency scorecard in Mzimba was the last after Rumphi and Nkhata Bay.

The MamaYe Health Budget Advocacy (HBA) scorecard strives at making sure that health sector budget preparation is widely consultative, district council governance structure ensure adherence to transparency and accountability for the health sector and budget information is available and communicated to the public. These three components of the HBA scorecard are identified as critical in promoting and increasing health budget transparency.

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