What I want to talk about is a solution that I have come up with as an African leader which I think is a sustainable way to finance development and transformation in community areas of Africa. We have an existing problem in our community when it comes to continuance availability of developmental funds which has led stalled improvements in our living standards and has led to some of the community projects either cancelled or halted and I believe it's also what most communities and counties in Africa face. I believe the solution is the establishment of a development fund for our community of which its proceedings will be used to develop our communities and their transformation.
last rain season every household in our community was told to contribute money to make repairs to damaged community roads. But a few weeks after the repairs were made the roads were damaged by rain again and people become reluctant to contribute money again. This is an example of situations many areas in our country face were there can be an availability of funds for infrastructure maintenance and development but the source of the funds is not sustainable. I see that the main problem is not just availability of development funds but the problem is also the continuance flow of those funds in order to complete their objective. In the example I gave about how our community contributed funds to develop our roads rather than wait for government, the problem come because the source of the funds was not sustainable and when there was pause in contributions from the people, the project failed. The problem also manifest in many projects in our country evidenced by the countless number of unfinished projects that have turned official headquarters for those running from the law all because there was a halt in flow of funds .
When I was thinking of a plan that can be put in place to insure that there is a continuance flow of funds that can be used for infrastructural and community development , then I found a certain book about Malawi's history where part of it talked about an initiative that our former president Dr. Bakili Muluzi established in 1995. Instead of injecting money directly into development projects he established a trust fund, the Press trust fund. The fund invested the money that Dr. Muluzi channeled to it and then from the profits it acquired from the invested it made was used to fund different projects like building schools , hospitals and also funding other initiatives and The fund has been around for years and it continues to grow in size . This is the approach I want our communities to take. If I was a leaders of our society I will lead to the creation of a development fund or Trust that we can use its revenues for the development work of our community. instead of contributing money to fund one project at a time, the Best approach is contribute money for establishment of a community trust funds that can invest in different business or low risk investments like mutual funds, then the revenues that we get from the investments be used to finance development of our community in things like road maintenance, buying teaching materials for our local primary school that usually don't have small materials like chalk and other things. The fund can also invest in businesses people are involved in which means it can also foster economic empowerment. Strict rules, guidelines and protocols can be put in place on how to operate the development fund to ensure its proper operation and accountability so as to make sure no one person misuse the funds which is also what rocks many projects in Africa.
In implementing such an initiative I can like very much to work with the youths so as to involve them in coming up with sustainable solutions to the problems in our society because as everyone says that the youth we are the cornerstones of the society and we are the next presidents, minister and executives. If the youth of today accept responsibilities , take part in coming up and implementing sustainable solutions to our problems and work towards the development and transformation of their societies then we will have great leaders in our society and together we can uplift our societies , the country and the world at large. Sometimes small actions matter in solving a problem than wait for those we look up to and maybe this small actions may motivate other people into a movement that can change the world. So I think the model of creating development fund for our society can turn into a movement where development funds will be created by other societies, countries and leaders because of its sustainability. If the youth I can work up with ends up seeing the benefits of a development fund then a new generation of leaders will be emerged with a different perspective towards financing development and transformation in a sustainable way.
