A visiting Malawian delegation and senior Sierra Leonean officials pledged closer cooperation on civic education and decentralised governance this week, as the two countries looked to each other’s experience running local councils and engaging citizens outside the capital.

The Malawian team, from that country’s Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, held a working visit in Freetown on October 7 with Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Local Government and Community Affairs (MLGCA), according to Premier Media. The talks covered civic education, local governance structures, decentralisation and community engagement, with both sides describing the exchange as the start of a broader partnership rather than a one-off meeting.

Sierra Leone’s Minister of Local Government and Community Affairs, Ambassador Tamba Lamina, called the visit “a valuable platform for mutual learning,” stressing that civic education helps ordinary citizens understand government policies and their own role in local decision-making.

On the Malawian side, Joseph Munda Bindi, Chairman of the National Council for Civic Education and Democracy, said his country wants to draw on Sierra Leone’s model after setting up its own civic education department within its local government ministry. Malawi is currently developing a national civic education policy and a supporting legislative framework. Cecily Kampanje, Acting Permanent Secretary of Malawi’s Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, said she was particularly interested in how Sierra Leone builds civic education into local governance and decentralised service delivery, pointing to community mobilisation, local planning and civic education within local councils as areas Malawi hopes to strengthen.

Sierra Leone’s Permanent Secretary at the MLGCA, Prince Alex Soriba, pointed to the two countries’ shared post-colonial history and similar governance challenges as he walked the delegation through Sierra Leone’s decentralisation structure, including regional and district coordination mechanisms. He emphasised the continuing importance of traditional leadership and community institutions in local administration. Brima Newman Combey, the ministry’s Director of Local Government, added that chieftaincy structures remain central to local governance in Sierra Leone, alongside a growing role for social media in building civic awareness.

The Malawian delegation, for its part, shared its own experience with district councils, traditional authorities, intergovernmental fiscal transfers and local revenue mobilisation, along with civic education hubs and district-level planning mechanisms meant to encourage community participation. Discussions also touched on decentralised financing and accountability, and the role civil society can play in preventing conflict at the local level.

Sierra Leone’s Deputy Minister of Local Government and Community Affairs, Alfred Moi Jamiru, marked the occasion by presenting the Malawian delegation with a commemorative booklet from the 2026 National Council of Paramount Chiefs Conference, which officials described as a symbol of the budding partnership between the two countries.

Neither side announced a formal agreement or timeline for further cooperation, but officials on both sides framed the visit as a step toward longer-term knowledge-sharing between two governments grappling with similar questions: how to make local government meaningful to citizens, and how to keep decentralisation efforts accountable as they expand.

Sources: Premier Media (premiermedia-sl.com)