About Us

Malawi Economic Justice Network (MEJN) is a coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) dedicated to promote good economic governance. The Network was formed in the year 2000 after a meeting of 27 civil society organizations seeking to maximize their involvement in economic governance through networking.

The Network was formed following an evaluation of the jubilee 2000 Debt Cancellation Malawi Campaign which had been going on for three years. The formation of MEJN replaced the Jubilee 2000 movement which linked the ordinary citizen to the international Jubilee movement.

MEJN was established to coordinate the involvement of civil society in Economic Governance and its first engagement was participation in the Malawi Poverty Reduction Strategy (MPRS) formulation. MEJN has established itself as a major civil society voice on issues of economic governance in Malawi, with emphasis on participatory economic governance. This is motivated by a need to ensure that government economic policies and strategies are developed through a participatory process and impact on reducing the poverty of Malawians.

MEJN strives to create partnerships that will ensure that Government policies and actions are of direct benefit to the poor, while also creating sustainability in the civil society policy engagement. MEJN’s membership includes NGOs, Community Based Organisations, Trade Unions, and representatives of the Media, and the academia, among others.

The network now comprises over 100 members, currently in the process of being updated befitting the membership database under construction as part of the shared learning and documentation of the past 13 years of existence. It is still primarily operating more as a bridge between citizenry, civil society and government above all else.

MEJN has a full time Secretariat that manage the day-to-day operations of the Network. The Secretariat is responsible for the implementation of all MEJN programmes and reports to a Board of Directors through the
Executive Director.

The mandate of MEJN is to promote good economic governance for the betterment of economically and socially excluded Malawians. From its inception the network has been guided by the following key
objectives:

i) To coordinate civil society involvement in the national policy development: this seeks to actively involve MEJN’s members in national policy development processes by making available critical
evidence based analytical work to civil society at district and national levels. This is important to enhance their knowledge and instill interest in policy issues thereby contribute to developing advocacy work surrounding the issue of concern.
ii) To build economic literacy of civil society: this objective aims to improve district and national level
civil society economic knowledge coupled by rights based approach to development, focusing on developing awareness of ordinary people’s rights to development.
iii) To coordinate civil society efforts in budget cycle processes of consultation, analysis, monitoring, evaluation and reviews: the objective involves such issues like budget analysis, tracking, and monitoring and evaluation of development projects at district and community levels. MEJN has been working with various CSOs in conducting such activities especially at district level thereby building the capacity of district level CSOs in these areas.
iv) To coordinate civil society in debt policy formulation and implementation: this tries to link the
expenditure and revenue generations aspects of the national budget by advocating for sustainable options for revenue generation which include domestic and external debt versus taxation measures and investment incentives. 

MEJN’s Strategic Statements

Our Vision: MEJN envisions a society where citizens are treated justly and living a dignified life.
Our Mission Statement: MEJN shall promote good economic governance for the betterment of
Malawians.
Organizational Values: The principle values of the Network will remain the most important component in the work of MEJN and will help distinguish the Network from other actors involved in promoting sound economic governance. And in order to contribute towards the attainment of the vision and mission statement, MEJN upholds the following values:

1. Transparency and Accountability – in the way resources that have been entrusted to the Network are managed. Transparency and Accountability to be channeled to the financiers as well as to the target beneficiaries of intervention programmes  
2.  Empathy – to hold paramount in designing and execution of programmes by placing ourselves in the shoes of the communities we serve in order to fully comprehend and identify with their situation. 
3. Integrity – we walk our talk and we are above reproach  
4. People Power – To empower societies to know, exercise and claim their economic rights through the programmes and interventions we implement.