Matandani School Management Committee Elections – May 27, 2015
On a busy day at Matandani a team of nine workers ploughed 
ahead on the new classroom block, plastering the inside walls, finalising the outside walls, and filling in the floors. Two workmen pressed ahead constructing a concrete drainage ditch to divert the next big rains away from the school courtyard. The Good Vision eye-testing team converted one classroom into a temporary clinic, where they performed hundreds of eye tests. And adults from the community met for four hours to elect a School Management Committee (SMC).
The election may sound unexciting compared to the other happenings on this busy list, but the SMC promises to accelerate Matandani’s progress. The SMC will provide the community with a window on how Matandani’s staff spends money, breeding trust between the community and the school’s leadership. A lack of such cooperation has held back Matandani’s progress. For example, the family of each student is asked to give the school 300 kwacha per year (€0.70) to help fund the schools maintenance and the purchase of school supplies. However, this vital local contribution to Matandani’s sustainable development was not being collected. 
With the newly elected SMC (plus a new Parent-Teacher Association, which the voters also elected), Matandani is now better placed to progress with the full support of the local community.
In many ways, the elections looked like elections at home, but in other ways they were very different. The crowd nominated candidates, nominees gave short campaign speeches, and every voter could vote once only. After this, things got exciting. The nominees lined up next to each other and election officials blindfolded them. Then, the crowd of voters scurried around them and lined up behind their favourite candidate, kicking up a cloud of dust in the process. The nominees with the most people lined up behind them won!
