Date: 30 th May 2016 From: DAPP WASH Field Officers To : Chief of W ASH UNICEF Malawi P.O. Box 30375 Lilongwe TUEME: REPORT ABOUT OUR CONCERNS/GRJEVANCES We have for so long thought ofpresenting our concerns to your office regarding the way we DAPP WASH Field officers are being treated. For sure we all know that to error is human and to forgive is divine, but the way things are happening now we feel can no Ion ger keep on forgiving and endure the pain weare going through, this 1S why today we have written this letter to you SirIMadam. As Field Officers we very much appreciate the good job which you are doing as an international Organization. We know that you are mainly focusing on dev~oping the World. After second World War II when Mrican and Asian Nations had gained independence more equal andjust world was demanded. Due to the broad support for these demand, UN declared that rich.nations should be donating 1% oftheir GDP to Development Aid and this is what you UNICEF are exactly facilitating as the UN Agency. Millennium Development Goals numbers 7 and 8 are those that you are aiming, this is why you are in partnership with DAPP to implement W ASH project. Thanks to the British people for the support they have rendered to you UNICEF for you to achieve the goals mentioned and we hopefully know that you are going to sustain them through partnerships with other Non-Governmental Organization such as DAPP and many others. Throughout history ofmankind, no person has been able to do notable achievements alone this is why DAPP alone could not do the implementation on its own that's why they thought of employing us Field Officers. We are called WASH Field Officers because I)APP has employed us and we are proud to be employees ofthis highly respected and reputable NGO and we don't take thls for granted. There is no one on EaI)h who would always want to live a miserable life and at the same time be ca lied an employee of a certain company, organization or else a government department . We are working, but ever since we got employed things have not been good at aU,- we are as if we are in modem slavery, the agony we feel is uncontrollable and the affrication we are going through shall never end if we don't speak out. Though it is DAPP which has employed us we know it is in partnership with you and you are contributing a louowards the development of this country including our families through vario~s initiatives which you have put in place, but instead of seeing the developed country after you had pumped in huge sum of money, the poor is getting poorer and the rich bosses become richer. We the Field Officers and other beneficiaries out there in distriets are becoming the victims. We believe in ourse1ves that we are the best Fie1d Officers very good agents ofchange (Change of better not for worse) and if given peace ofmind and right resources, we can quickly transform our 1 , - PACXE TwD areas but we cannot speak out and tell our supervisors this is wrong when things go wrong, for fear ofbeing sucked off. They take advantage of employment opportunity scarcity, for this reason we choose to_remain silent and keep on suffering inwardly and just watch even when things at the project are not ok, please help us o We are not allowed to know what is in budget as a result we do our job without knowing what was where, what was it for and how was is used yet we are there on the ground producing results everyday week and month. As Field Officers we feel ifthe following activities were fully funded things would have been going smoothly just according to your plan. 1. VAG Village Action Group Orientation. The minimum number ofVAG members is 10 people per village and the maximum number is 35 people. During the orientation training we were given 3OO_x2x 10 that's far 1 village we were given 6000. We were told this was far refreshment only moming and afternoon but there was no lunch and no stationery. Each Field Officer received K30,000 for this activity. 2. Local Leaders Triggering was done at low cost, they said there were no funds for this activity. 3. ODF Celebrations, we were given K80,000 for 10 villages trus K80,000 was for whole function including sign post, food and allowances for the village Heads and Field Officers. 4. Triggering Session we get 3900x3 villages the remaining villages weMe told we should trigger them without funds because UNICEF has only provided money for 3 villages per each Field Office. 5. Preverification, this activity is done without any fund at all. 6. Verification is also Gone without giving any fund to us as Field Officers. 7. Bicycle maintenance we are told there is no money for our bicycles and as a result we use our own money to keep the bicycles functioning 8. Airtime, we do not get any money far communication we are told we are not entitled to get airtime. 9. Meetings and trainings, we don' t get money for these. 10. Action and events, We don't get any funds for trus activity. 11 . Public transport refunds, whenever we have spend money to travel to somewhere to do project activity we never get refunded. 12. ADe: Area Development Committee orientations were done at low cost without funds without stationery. 2 13 . Salary: The salaries we get are very disappointing each Field Officer receives K77,000 before tax then after tax we get K57,000. Two years aga you very weB know there was this other program which we were implementing in T/As Changata, Bvumbwe and Nsabwe in Thyolo district as weB as three other T /As in Chiladzulu district. These things which we have complained were happening also. For example those men that were identified to be trained as MASONS Sanitation Entrepreneurs, their training took place in Thyolo and was only conducted fot 4 days including their departure day making a total of 5 days you can find out more about this from the facilitators who were from Mzuzu University. Ihe school W ASH, the construction of latrines in the targeted schools is another issue wruch also disappointed us, the bricks were to be provided by the community around the school as a result some of the schools that did not have bricks had problems to have the construction project finished, the payment of brick layers (builders) was also delayed that some of us had to take our money and give the builders to avoid being sued. The Area Mechanic Refresher Course w~ attended by 5 people only. We were told UNICEF has provided funds for only one day- and it took place from 9:00am to 12:00noon. Some ODF Celebration Sign posts were just constructed last year without even painting and write the information on it to make them suit their name: sign post, and some villages never received their ODF certificates·and gifts. A lot ofthings are happening but because we don't know what is in the budget we cannot ask anything and sometirnes we even get our personal money to make project activities move to us this is very very painful. Every time we go out to carry out project activity with personal money, we never get refunded. Besides all these challenges that we have outlined, (DAPP) deduct money from some ofus. They say it' s a contribution for the .common interest, but we are not willfully contributing. Enclosed are so me ofthe documents which they use to force some ofus to contribute the money. If one refuse to contribute the amount they want he/she risks losing the job onee the contract finishes . We even never go for holidays/annualleave. This is indeed a burden. If there are other ways you can do t9 stop all these challenges please help uso Lastly we sincerely regret for any inconvenieneies whieh our report may have eaused. With hope, we are looking forward for good eooperation and we ask your protection, beeause onee we are sporteJnoted we may either loose our jobs some ofus may even loose our lives. Yours faithfully, CONCERNED FJELD OFFICERS 3 PAGe ~oUR There were 8 founding members who signed the agreement; it started its full operation on 1st January, 201-3. The agreement states : THE CONTRIBUTIONS SHALl, BE USED ACCORDING TO TIIE OBJECTIVIES IN TUE ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION The Joint Account Association is not liable for tax and shall not report to the TAX authorities or any other authority. As of2 nd Aug ust, 2013, there is a total of319 contributors. - - - There are 287 letter of contributors signed, received and placed in the server document folder. 272 are new - contributors. The Joint Account Association Malawi Un incorporated association DIRECTORS '<-}Übert Makawa Chairman Moses Chibwana Secretary Ole-Thomson Treasure MEMBERS OIe Thomson Moses Chibwana Stephano Misho Joseph Chilowodza !ben B. Perdersen Florence Longwe MosesBokosi AmosiMadeya Cedrick Masikamu Precious Kosamu Martin Mutero Charlott Dancket / ~ 4 This information was made available on 20th August, 2016 ACC name: Joint Ace Association Ace Number: 01 400851 19000 Bank Name: Standard Branch Name: Blantyre Main Victoria Avenue Formerly known as Oie Thomson F. and !ben MB Perdersen Ace Number 3393194 This account Number 3393194 was closed in January, 2013 The letter asking the closing ofthe account was written by the two people Oie Thomson Fand !ben MB Perdersen and was headlined: ACCOUNT CLOSURE This account (closed one) was at National Bank, Blantyre main Branch they asked the Bank to transfer the balance to the other account with the new name the joint account association held at standard Bank Blantyre main Branch. On the closure letter, the National Bank stamped the stamp written: National Bank ofMalawi Victoria Avertue service centre Received 21 st January, 2013 Mandates Initials 5 THE JOINT ACCOUNT ASSOCIATION DEED OF CONTRIBUTION I, the undersigned Name: Address: Date of birth: hereby make this Deed of Contribution to The Joint Account Association (the " Association"). The motivation for this Deed of Contribution is that I, together with a number of other person s, share lire, honour and welfare under the designation joint time, joint economy and joint distribution . I will from time to time transfer money to The Association. It is thus with this Deed of Contribution that I give such money to The Association to be used for the benefit of the joint interests arising from joint time, joint economy and joint distribution . I reserve the right to revoke this Deed of Contribution upon giving 3 days written notice to The Association . Such revocation shall not be retrospective. I acknowledge and understand that I cannot in anyway claim the return of any money paid by me to The Association or demand any adjustment whatsoever. Once any money has been paid by me to The Association I shall have no claim thereto or to the assets ofThe Association whatsoever. Place and date: SIGNED and DELIVERED as a DEED by '- ) --------------------in the presence of: WITNESSES Signature: _ _ _ __ _ _ _ __ Signature: _ _ __ _ _ _ __ _ _ Name: Name: Address: Address : Occupation: _ _ _ _ __ _ _ __ Occupation: _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ __