Dear Readers, welcome to the first edition of the CIMC Paitim TokTalk newsletter. This Edition carries information about CIMC’s work that was carried out between January and June of 2023.

What is contained in the preceding pages include key activities implemented within the first 6 months of 2023 and they are:

1. CIMC and Wau-Waria District Partnership -  CIMC hosted its first ever District Development Forum at the request of the Member for Wau-Waria, Hon Marsh Narewec in June. This initiative became a catalyst for other districts. The outcome of that was the development of the most inclusive and participatory District’s 5 Year Development Plan and fostering other partnerships with identified strategic partners.

CIMC wants to continue this initiative with other districts and provinces that are willing to partner in order to promote participatory and inclusive planning and budgeting at the community and district levels.

2. Maintaining regular sectoral policy dialogue through CIMC’s various sectoral Committees - This year, though we started our planned activities late, we were able to host few of those sectoral committee meetings (details in the preceding pages).

3. Building CIMC’s internal capacity - CIMC lost few of its experienced staff within the second half of 2022 and as such was focusing on staff recruitment to fill the vacant positions. Apart from that, CIMC had inducted its new staff to familiarize with its internal processes and also sent old staff to do short term trainings with training providers to address skill gaps. In total, CIMC recruited 5 full time staff while one is a on a part time permanent.

Going forward, in the July to December of 2023, CIMC is planning to implement the below key activities apart from others:

1. Our website is under maintenance and we are hoping for it to be ready for public access by early March of 2024;

2. For the first time CIMC will have a 3-year strategic plan which we hope to launch by mid-March of 2024;

3. CIMC plans to host the 2023 National Development Forum anytime between August and October.

4. CIMC will continue to work with the Wau-Waria District to ensure the District Development Forum Proceeding Report is completed and that printed copies are officially presented to the district during the launching of the district’s Five Year Development Plan in October of 2023.

CIMC stakeholders and partners who are interested to participate in any of the above activities and or to know more about them, please do not hesitate to contact us.

On behalf of my hard working staff in the CIMC Secretariat, I wish you all the best for this year and hope you enjoy reading information provided inside. We look forward to continue working with you as development partners in the remaining months of this year and in 2024. We will update you on status of implementation of the activities highlighted above in the second edition of the Paitim TokTalk which we hope will be circulated to all our stakeholders at the end of December this year or early 2024.