Bandawe said it is an exciting feeling when you are finally picked for the prestigious Fellowship as it means joining a huge network of change makers and is very crucial in one’s career advancement.
Being at a middle management level as Supervisor in the Ministry of Energy and Mining, he would like to make changes in how he leads colleagues as a key player in the Department of Mines.
The mining surveyor acknowledged that it’s quite a challenging experience for youths in Malawi’s public sector in that traditionally, it has been an old man’s game, but these days it’s increasingly youth led.
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In the United States, he was placed at the Syracuse University at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs where they learnt on how public institutions interface with Non-Governmental Organizations and the private sector in service delivery.
According to him, ethical leadership in the public sector entails integrity, transparency and accountability.
“It’s a job which requires you to have the utmost integrity, you are going to do well as a public servant if you uphold integrity and you do not take shortcuts; you do not advantage of people and the resources. So for me integrity is a key pillar to ethical governance.
“I saw that in the USA how integrity is embedded in their public service through integrity Committees, the same thing is developing here in Malawi.
Having been in public service for three years, he stressed on the need for civil servants to be transparent in their dealings and embrace open data so that the people they serve are well informed.
In America, he learnt a lot about self, understanding his strengths, motivating people and creating momentum as a team and he promised to ensure that throughout their operations they will leverage the available expertise in the Department.
As a public servant, he cited the extensive training he received such as the induction for public officials at the Malawi School of Government earlier in his civil service career as having played a key role in how he carries out his duties.
Bandawe explained that the Mandela Fellowship complements his work in the mining industry especially now that the sector is being prioritised and stressed on the need to share information for sensitization.
He viewed communication, story-telling and adapting communications effectively as essential in reducing complex issues in the mining industry.
“The mining sector is quite complex, we need to reduce complex issues in the sector into a more simpler way that the general public can understand. We need to embrace public participation that’s another thing I learnt in the Fellowship in policy-making.
“It’s important that we incorporate the public views when we’re making our policies that’s why recently I took part in developing regulations for mineral exports in Malawi. We made sure to have consultations both physical as well as putting out a call online for comments”
Now that he is back, he pledged to continue to drive his work in the artisanal and small scale mining sector which he noted is mining with limited mechanization, capacity and understanding just because the mines are close to them.
“My focus during the Fellowship was how can I better respond to the governance challenges that these artisanal and small scale miners face and through the Fellowship I got the necessary skills to advance artisanal and small scale mining in a way that it transforms from being informal to formal”
Initially Bandawe didn’t make it but succeeded in his second attempt with a good understanding, through experience, self-reflection, learning and advised prospective candidates on the need to pick their lane and remain active.