Quarterly News from Malawi

MALAWI SHA / UP MAY 2022

May Newsletter P1 - Key Programme Highlights P2 - Update on our programmes and looking back at our impact

P3 - Operations, research and our team

Nutrition Open Day organised by FNSP Project in Dedza District

HIGHLIGHTS

By Kate Hartley-Louis, Country Director SHA/UP has been commended by the Dedza District Commissioner as the most exemplary non-governmental organisation for following procedures and ensuring there is good coordination with stakeholders at district level, reporting and being accountable to the District Council.

The GIZ -funded Food and Nutrition Security Programme (FNSP) conducted a nutrition open day with the aim to equip caregivers with knowledge on food preparation, processing and utilization, and to disseminate messages on good nutrition and WASH practices. The open day attracted 250 (100 men and150 women) community members, 9 (8 men and 1 woman) frontline workers and 7 (6 men and 1 woman) local leaders.

The GIZ-funded Energising Development (EnDev)-Commercialisation of the Chitetezo Mbaula project is conducting a clean cooking campaign in order to increase the number of fuel-efficient stoves sold. Every sales agent who sells 200 stoves within a period of one month qualifies to win a bicycle. So far, two promoters have won bicycles.

SHA/UP took part in the EU Day celebration which was held at the EU Ambassador's residence. The event took place on 9th May under the theme "EU-Malawi, a future-proof partnership". The event attracted representatives from the Government, civil society, and the private sector. The EU-funded KULIMA BETTER project showcased a number of activities at the event.

P4 - Stories from the people we work with

MAY 2022

Again, with funding from The One Foundation, SHA/UP rehabilitated

two

non-functional

boreholes

in

Changata and Chafa villages in TA Changata serving 874 people (377 men and 497 women).

With support from Action on Poverty, SHA/UP conducted a training for community bakeries in Balaka district on how to include Orange flashed sweet potatoes in their products. 40 participants from 4 bakeries attended the training.

Farmer Field school member, Alex Pambwe, interacting with the Minister of Agriculture, Hon Lobin Lowe, at the EU Day Celebration

Project participant in Mulanje using clean cooking stove

SHA/UP team at the EU Day Celebration

The Embassy of Ireland-funded SPEAR programme trained

The clean cooking stoves locally known as Chitetezo mbaula

39 (27 men and 12 women) extension workers on banana

The SoSuRe team attended a training on ComCare -

and Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato (OFSP) production and

the SHA M&E web-based system - which was held in

multiplication. The extension workers will cascade the

Zomba from 9th -12th May 2022. The training aimed

training to lead farmers who will in turn train the follower

at orienting project staff on the new data collection

farmers.

system which will be enrolled by SHA/UP for easy

With funding from UNICEF, SHA/UP rehabilitated 12 water points in Chikwawa, Mulanje and Phalombe districts.

With support from The One Foundation, SHA/UP trained 30 Health Surveillance Assistants (HSAs) and government extension workers together with their supervisors in TA Changata, Thyolo district on Community-led total sanitation (CLTS).

reporting by the MEAL department. SoSuRe project has been selected to pilot this web-based system. The participants

at

the

training

were:

five

SoSuRe

consortium officers from Mulanje (2 women and 3 men ) and 6 from Save the Children (3 women and 3 men) and 1 from PMU.

MAY 2022

OPERATIONS We have now finalised a new Employee handbook for all SHA and UP contracted staff in Malawi. The new handbook was developed in line with consultation with all staff, the Management Team, the global office and our lawyers. The Handbook aligns the conditions of service for all employees and is a major milestone in the integration between SHA and

A new global procurement and logistics policy has been finalised for the merged entity - another big step in the integration - and the Malawi procurement team are digesting the policy and this will be rollout out to all staff and projects over the coming months.

UP. The handbook will be launched at a full country wide staff training on 30th June 2022.

RESEARCH & LEARNING The SHA/UP National Monitoring and Evaluation Framework has been finalised. The M&E framework will be used to effectively and efficiently assess the delivery of SHA/UP fiveyear (2021-205) Country Strategy.

Information, Education and Communication (IEC) materials have been one of the major channels through which some of the best practices are disseminated to the smallholders farmers under the EU funded KULIMA BETTER Project. The project recently conducted an internal assessment to evaluate the effectiveness of the IEC materials in the learning and adoption of the best practices.

2,297 project participants were randomly sampled and interviewed. The assessment established that 76% of the project

participants

access

information

on

livelihood

improvement from government officials, 95% from radios, 39% from chiefs (who call for regular meetings), 34% from neighbours and 25% from community information centres.

Households

also

source

information

on

livelihoods

improvements from mobile phones (15%) and through print media (14%).

The study showed evidence that radio is one of the most Witimba Farmer Field School listening to the radio

effective tools in delivering agriculture extension and advisories to beneficiaries .

Our team is the driving force behind our success Veneless Chimpesa is the Chitipa District Development Facilitator under the EU-funded KULIMA BETTER project and she is currently serving as the chairperson of the District Gender Technical Working Group. Veneless joined SHA in 2006. She has over 18 years of work experience as an agriculture expert.

"When it comes to work, field work is the most enjoyable part because I like working with people. I enjoy interacting with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures. I have worked in several districts in Malawi and I speak six local languages. I feel proud to see families achieving their visions and goals with our support," Veneless says smiling.

"Working with SHA has been a wonderful journey. I have grown both professionally and academically. My network has expanded at both district and national level. The Marshal Papworth scholarship program also gave me the opportunity to interact with people at international level," Veneless added.

Veneless Chimpesa, Chitipa District Development Facilitatior

MAY 2022

STORIES FROM THE PEOPLE WE WORK WITH: FARMERS TO DOUBLE YIELDS WITH CLIMATE SMART AGRICULTURE

In July 2020, UP supported 20 lead farmers and care group volunteers

to

construct

soil

and

water

conservation

structures, such as swales, deep trenches and check dams.

The trained community volunteers then passed on their newly acquired knowledge and skills to 1,300 farming families in Mtemwende. Mandaliza Mnuza, a father of four, was one of the people to benefit from this.

A visit to Mandaliza’s field shows just how much he'd applied the knowledge and skills about soil management. He has dug ‘water harvesting trenches’ to harvest water – something that saved his farm in January 2022 when Tropical Storm Ana hit Malawi. The crops on many farms in the district were completely swept away by the heavy rains, but Mandaliza’s and other project participants’ were spared. Due to the deep trenches and swales they had dug before planting maize, the crops were not washed away and the yield was unaffected by the run-off.

Mandaliza Mnuza in his maize field after Cyclone Ana Traditional Authority (TA) Tambala in Malawi’s Dedza district has always been a tough place to farm, this is further worsened by

Francis Stande, Mtemwende Village Head, says: “After heavy rains, the Nyangawira river would flood from the run-off coming from the hills. The floods would also wash away the crops downstream, which affected crop productivity in my area, and

climate change. The mountainous area is affected by deforestation

we always relied on food support from the Government. The

due to charcoal burning leading to depletion of soil fertility.

project really helped us to connect the low crop yield and the

This affects the livelihoods of people living here as they face perpetual hunger every lean season. The authorities have to provide food assistance to the most vulnerable communities. In this area, rainfall is sparse and intermittent and droughts are

land degradation that is widely spread in this area. Now as chiefs, we are able to explain to our communities why they need to stop deforestation and start practicing climate-smart agriculture.”

frequent. After the long dry spell, the hard-baked surface of the

64-year-old Yonasi Chiyenda, a father of five, is another

soil is largely impermeable, and the rain runs off to be carried

farmer UP supported with climate smart agriculture

away in streams and rivers, along with the fertile soil. As a result,

interventions. He didn’t have enough income to purchase

both people and plants are deprived of the water they need.

fertiliser, so instead he began to make compost manure – a

United Purpose, through the GIZ-funded Food and Nutrition

skill he learnt through UP’s project.

Security Programme, worked with the community to identify

Yonasi says: “I made enough compost manure to cover 1.5

actions farmers could take to mitigate the effects of climate

acres, where I planted maize and onions (1 acre for maize and

change. One action involved scaling climate-smart agriculture

0.5 acres for onions). The crop stand for maize and onion is so

technologies.

promising and I believe that I will have huge yields when the time of harvesting comes."

GET IN TOUCH: We can be reached at our new office in Lilongwe at the following address and telephone number

Self Help Africa/United Purpose Mwai House, City Centre, PO Box 159,Lilongwe Tel. 01772754 e-mail: uplilongwe@united-purpose.org web: selfhelpafrica.org | united-purpose.org