The Malawi National Council of Sports (MNCS) has challenged sports associations to be proactive in securing partnerships for long-term funding, as the institution will continue providing support based on priorities.
This development follows the council’s withdrawal of annual allocations and its introduction of funding for sports associations’ activities based on priorities due to the resource envelope.
MNCS Chief Executive Officer Henry Kamata said the new arrangement would encourage associations to explore other revenue sources.
“The practice of blind allocations to sports associations was discontinued because it is not progressive and fosters over-dependence on government funding,” Kamata said.
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He made the remarks after the Netball Association of Malawi (Nam) announced fundraising initiatives to complement the government’s efforts in developing the game.
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“We need to promote sustainable sports development, as Nam has started doing. The Football Association of Malawi is also doing the same. Government funding alone is insufficient to support sports programmes by sports associations,” Kamata said.
He further explained that the council follows a specified criteria to provide funding to associations.
“Government funding criteria are based on three issues namely, acceptance of technical and financial reports for the previous year and submission of planned sports programmes and activities,” Kamata said.
Under the new arrangement, sports associations will only receive funding for budgeted activities that focus on development and capacity building.
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Sports analyst Frank Chakanga has supported the council’s decision to end blind annual subventions.
“It is absolutely true that sports associations need to be innovative because the funding that the Sports Council receives from the government is very minimal and cannot be sufficiently distributed to associations. Hence, there is a need for them to cast a wider net and attract sponsorships or partnerships.
“And that is why we need the people running associations to have the necessary qualifications to write proposals to potential sponsors or partners,” Chakanga said.
In the 2024-25 national budget, MNCS was allocated K4.7 billion, of which K3.7 billion is for Other Recurrent Transactions
