WES Network made a courtesy call to the new Minister of Water and Sanitation to congratulate her and strategize on how best we move forward and work together as a sector. We had therefore met Hon. Abida Sidik Mia on 16th February 2022. 
 
The discussion tackled the following:
 
Regulation
The network presented to the Minister that drillers easily get away with substandard WASH Facilities like boreholes due to poor regulation systems.
We therefore recommended capacitating the National Water Regulatory Authority (NRWA) so that stakeholders (NGOs, Religious bodies, private actors, government) must be held accountable and be fined for provision of substandard facilities.
 
Sanitation
We asked the Minister for a Sanitation directorate so that sanitation issues in the country must be improved. Citing an example of the “sweep days” among others. Malawi only has the Water Supply directorate.  This type of arrangement has been a challenge to fully address sanitation issues in the country.
 
Sustainability
To ensure sustainability we recommend capacitating and utilizing communities so that broken boreholes can be locally fixed and materials locally purchased an initiative which is already in place but needs to be strengthened
Other issues discussed include investing in Water harvesting and supporting local authorities.
As a sector we were pleased to learn that the Minister has committed to change the systems to allow smooth transition.
 
One key commitment from the Minister is to ensure that we meet monthly for debriefing and planning.  In our first meeting, we will draw a roadmap that will guide us to address the sector gaps.
 
As WES Network, we are pleased with the zeal for change in Hon. Abida Sidik Mia
 
We believe collaboratively we are going to achieve great strides as the steps taken so far are heading the right direction.