On May 22nd and 23rd, 2025, CISANET under the Combating Corruption in Affordable Input Program (COCOA) project convened a capacity-building workshop with the Phalombe CSO Network and the District Agriculture Extension Coordinating Committee (DAECC). This initiative seeks to enhance transparency and accountability in the Affordable Inputs Program (AIP), ensuring the equitable distribution of agricultural inputs to smallholder farmers across Malawi. With support from the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), the participants were capacitated on the forms and implications of corruption, equipping them with skills to identify and report corruption cases, and foster community engagement in preventing corruption in AIP.
Through an interactive approach, participants engaged in discussions on the key challenges affecting AIP implementation and developed indicators and guiding questions for scorecards. These scorecards will be used to assess the transparency, efficiency, and fairness of AIP processes at the local level.
This initiative is a crucial step towards strengthening social accountability in the agriculture sector. By empowering community members with knowledge and tools, CISANET aims to ensure that public programs like AIP achieve their intended outcomes, providing essential support to smallholder farmers and improving their access to agricultural inputs.