Pro-ACT Magazine
Contents Aluvaness finally dreams big Capacity building of civil protection committees
Benadette’s family back on their feet
Drops of hope for Nsanje prison The power of adult literacy
A wind of change
Catchment conservation Changing mindset using gender approach
Resilience boost for Elida Maganga
Energising Mulanje prison
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Foreword Pro-Resilience Action (Pro-ACT) is a three-year programme, funded by the European Union, running from November 2017 to November 2020. Led by United Purpose (UP) in a consortium with Save the Children and Concern Worldwide, Pro-ACT delivers approaches that aim to break the cycle of food and nutrition insecurity in Malawi creating direct synergies with the Government’s National Social Support Programme (NSSP) and linkages with resilience-building initiatives, approaches and players in the target districts, as well as the parallel Christian Aid-led MLUMIKIZI programme operating in Neno, Chikwawa, Mwanza and Mzimba. Pro-ACT works to ensure that 33,797 Social Cash Transfer (SCT) most vulnerable households (HH) are more resilient to food and climate change shocks in Mulanje, Zomba and Nsanje. As part of the project, the consortium partners are also providing support to three prisons in Zomba, Nsanje and Mulanje with the aim to increase food availability for prisoners. Through the lens of powerful personal stories, this magazine aims to showcase the tangible impact of the different interventions implemented under the Pro-ACT project.
Disclaimer: Informed consent was obtained from the project participants for the publication of all the images in this magazine in accordance with UP’s safeguarding policy. Magazine designed by: Eric Nyekanyeka, United Purpose.
Aluvaness finally dreams big Aluvaness sitting in front of her new home with her goat
68-year old Aluvaness Zuze from TA Mlolo, Nsanje district, reflects on the enormous challenges she experienced since divorcing her husband twenty years ago because of his violent behaviour. She says she had no choice but to raise her children alone, a task she says she struggled with. “We spent most of our days with an empty stomach.” Aluvaness also laments that due to her situation, her children also ended up being very poor. To help her children, she now takes care of her grandchildren. “My grandchildren could not go to school as they had no school uniforms, books and other school requirements.” However, things began to change for the better when she started receiving support from the Government through the Social Cash Transfer (SCT) programme and Concern Worldwide through the Pro-Resilience Action (Pro-ACT) project. Concern supported Aluvaness and her family with two goats under Pro-ACT’s livestock pass-on initiative. Six months later, she says the goats are helping her family as a source of food and income: “We use the milk from the goats for our own consumption and for sale.” She also explains how the goats will also be important for agricultural production, as their dung is used as manure in her vegetable garden. “I do not have to worry about buying fertilizer as the goats’ droppings are helping a lot in my garden.” After receiving messages on nutrition diversification and WASH through community sensitization, Aluvaness realised the need to learn more about good hygiene and nutrition practices. This is how she decided to join a care group in her village. As a result of her involvement in the care group,
“We now eat more than three meals a day all the year-round, which was not the case before this project.” Aluvaness decided to establish a backyard garden, where she planted a small amount of local vegetables, including pumpkins and sweet potatoes. The improved seeds Aluvaness acquired through the Pro-ACT seed fair helped her to increase her yield and improve the dietary diversity for her and her family. Being connected to other beneficiaries through the Care Group meant she was also able to access orange-fleshed sweet potato vines for her field. Aluvaness also explains that nutrition has improved in her household as a result of the nutrition and agricultural production training she received under Pro-ACT; “We now eat more than three meals a day all the year-round, which was not the case before this project.”, she says. Pro-ACT also supported Aluvaness with financial management skills, which she says have helped her to effectively manage the social cash transfers she receives from the government, enabling her to start building her own house with burnt bricks and an iron sheet. In the near future, Aluvaness wants to roof her goats’ kraal (goat pen) as well as build a cement floor for her new house. She says her grandchildren are now able to go to school on a full stomach and she already dreams that they will go to college and become independent.
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Capacity building of civil protection committees: a means to saving lives during disasters
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Some of the materials Mateketa VCPC was supported with from the Pro-Act.
ateketa Village Civil Protection Committee (VCPC) is in GVH Mateketa, T/A Mbiza, Zomba district. The committee has 16 members (6 men and 10 women) reaching out to a community of 5,079 people (1, 467 men, 1, 050 women and 2, 559 children) from 22 surrounding villages. The community usually experiences dry spells, strong/heavy winds and floods as the main disasters that sometimes affects 1000 households or more in some worst case scenarios. The major role of the VCPC has always been to ensure that people are aware of potential hazards, mitigate and help in post-disaster recovery which has been a challenge due to lack of capacity. “Previously we were not able to fully execute our duties during disasters as we lacked the capacity and the resources which prevented us from reaching out to disaster victims effectively,” narrates the VCPC secretary. Before Save the Children trained the Committee in Disaster Risk Management, through the Pro-Act Project funded by the European Union, they were trained in 2012 through the WALA project also implemented by Save the Children. Through the Pro-Act, the Committee was revamped and also supported with early warning and rescue materials, including 5 torches, 9 gumboots, 3 rain-suits, 1 megaphone, 10 reflectors and 5 whistles. The VCPC was also oriented in rescue and evacuation and early warning and preparedness. “Thanks to the materials that the project supported us with and the trainings that we received, we are now able to deliver our tasks effectively. We had the training just before the 2018/2019 disasters which enabled us to effectively support the community then. There was also a good coordination among all the sectors that are in the VCPC after it was revamped which helped in reaching out to the needs of flood victims across all sectors,” said the Area Civil Protection Committee Chair for T/A Mbiza. The megaphones were used to send early warning messages around the community, torches for lighting, gumboots
and rain suits for walking in the rain and people could easily recognize the VCPC members in the night with the reflectors. The committee was able to reach out to 328 households that it evacuated to camps during the 2018/2019 disasters of which 75 households maintained their stay at the camp. The VCPC members also established a good coordination with the District Disaster Office and were able to document good reports on the disasters and send at district level for support. VCPC members are also involved in establishment of tree nurseries during the season for distribution to village heads to ensure that they contribute towards minimizing some of the disasters when they happen. Pro-ACT project has also supported Mateketa VCPC to develop a contingency plan. The Committee is also planning to develop by-laws to govern them and the communities in relation to disasters and promotion of standard houses in the communities that can withstand the heavy rains and the floods. Mateketa VCPC highly appreciates the support received by Save the Children in the framework of Pro-ACT project as it has had a positive impact on the lives of the Social Cash Transfer Beneficiaries and the community at large.
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Bernadette’s family back on their feet
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Bernadette and her three children
y name is Bernadette Dinimu, I am 29 years-old and married with three children. I live in Group Village Headman Nogwe, Traditional Authority Nkanda in Mulanje district, Malawi. I am among the 800,000 people who were affected by the Cyclone Idai which hit Malawi in March 2019. My family and I were living a happy life before the floods. Our main source of food was from our own agriculture production and our source of income was casual labour (ganyu). We used to cultivate other people’s farmland at a fee of MK5,000 (~7 USD) per month. With the money earned through piece-work, we were able to provide for the basic needs of the family; food, shelter and school fees. Our life changed after our house collapsed due to Cyclone Idai and we lost all our property, including the crops from our field. Immediately after the disaster, we sought refuge at my sister’s house. However, as her house was too small to accommodate the whole family for a long period, we had to then move to Nogwe camp. Life in the camp was unbearable as there was no food and we had to rely on casual labour in crop fields in order to get food for the day. We are thankful to United Purpose who assisted us, while we were in the camp, by providing relief items, including 40kg maize flour, 50 packets of soya pieces, 5 kg beans, 2 litres cooking oil, sanitary pads, 9 tablets of laundry soap and a plastic sheet. Thanks to this support, I and my husband no longer had to do piece-work in order to fetch for food, but instead I had enough time to take care of my children and family. We stayed in the camp for three months.
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We are now recovering from the shock and we are constructing a new house. The black plastic sheet, we received in the camp, will be used for roofing of the house. The project also supported our family with orange fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) vine bundles which we have planted in the wetland area. The OFSP are a source of nutritious food for the family. I have also joined a village savings and loans group which will help me to access soft loans. I am now able to participate in other community activities and applaud United Purpose for saving our family during a critical time. I plan to finish the construction of my house and move in with my family. After the cyclone Idai, Pro-ACT project activated its Crisis Modifier Funds to support internally displaced people in the districts of Mulanje, Nsanje and Zomba. 1,200 households (400 per district), including children, pregnant and lactating women and persons with disabilities were supported with food and non-food items.
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Drops of hope for Nsanje prison
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stablished in 1958, closed in 1994 and later reopened in 1998 because of the congestion in the country’s main prisons, Nsanje’s prison currently has 145 inmates sharing very limited space. Regular access to safe water has been an important challenge ever since it was opened despite the prison being connected to tap water supplied by the Southern Region Water Board. Water supply cutoffs are experienced during power outages, which Nsanje experiences as often as 9 hours per day every day. Whenever the water supply is cut-off, the prison uses a vehicle to draw water from a borehole 10 km away, which is only used for drinking and cooking, but not for bathing, washing and cleaning. The prison authorities acknowledged that this has led to poor hygiene conditions and the spread of diseases at the facility. As the prison does not have pit latrines, when the taps run dry the toilets cannot be flushed leading to very unhygienic conditions which accelerates the spread of diseases, such as diarrhoea. Nsanje prison is well known for its production of vegetables, which are used to enrich the meals of prisoners. Due to overreliance on water from the Southern Region Water Board used for farming, the initiative led to a staggering cumulative bill of 32 million MKW (€38,277) over 5 years that brought unbearable financial strains for the institution.
Nsanje prison officer in charge and some of the prisoners using the borehole with PROACT officers in October2018
Despite many organizations working in Nsanje, none has ever worked with the prison to promote hygiene and sanitation, especially by ensuring the availability of an alternative source of potable water. “I am delighted to have witnessed the first borehole at Nsanje prison drilled by a Non-Governmental Organization” said Mulonyeni Tembo, the Prison officer in-charge. “This will go a long way as regards to hygiene for the prison and the surrounding households from the nearby community. We will put in place a strong committee to help take care of the borehole and will work hand in hand with the community members as everyone is responsible for taking care of the facility”, Mr. Tembo added. The drilling of the borehole has brought about tremendous change. The prison is using the water for cooking, dish and clothes washing, cleaning, flushing the toilets, and for the inmates to bathe, which has increased hygiene at the prison and already limited the occurrence of diseases since its installation. The borehole will also facilitate the production of vegetables during the winter months to supplement and diversify inmates’ meals. The borehole also benefits an estimated 200 households from the nearby community that up until now didn’t have access to a water point close to their homes.
The Pro-ACT project, implemented in Nsanje by Concern Worldwide (CWW) started its activities in mid-2018. The project aims to increase the food availability in prisons by providing farm inputs and potable water. An assessment conducted at the start of the project followed by a meeting with the Prison officials confirmed access to a reliable water source to be one of the priority needs of the prison. A local company was contracted by CWW to drill the borehole and install a hand pump. The borehole was dug to a depth of 52 metres and will be able to supply water for the prison throughout the year with the shallow water table in the The borehole has also allowed the prison to develop area due to closeness to the Shire river. different initiatives on their own, building on the initial Furthermore, the project also supported the prison with 16 investment made by the Pro-ACT project. The prison packets of vegetable seeds (10g of onion, carrot, tomato, authorities facilitated the lining of a shallow well which rape, Chinese cabbage and mustard) for winter production is used to collect water from the borehole drainage for and Concern staff and government extension workers irrigating vegetables. They have also constructed a pig provided technical support in best agricultural practices house that is currently housing 5 animals and is used to for vegetable production. An additional one-day capacity train inmates in livestock husbandry, skills they could building training was organized for 9 prison staff (1 female use once they have been released. The prison plans to and 8 males) on seedbed management for vegetable continue expanding its livestock rearing and production training activities in the next year. production for increased water retention.
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The power of adult literacy
“Seeing my grandchildren going to school and being able to read and write motivated me to study. I was always looking for opportunities to learn. I always admired my peers leading in singing hymns at church because they were able to read.” Roseby and her teacher Gloria Muthawa
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oseby Majoni’s story is one of determination and courage. Aged 72, Roseby is still eager to learn and acquire new skills. She lives in Namangolo village, Group Village Headman Njirambo, Traditional Authority Mabuka, Mulanje district. Roseby is the household head of a family of six. The household is composed of Joshua Makuluni (19), Milias (14), Chrsitina (9), Grace (7) and Estere Kampira (28). Roseby mostly spends her time working in the farm fields (0.2 ha). Previously, she owned a small sweet beer selling business which she had to abandon as she was not able to sustain it. A Social Cash Transfer Beneficiary (SCTP) beneficiary, Roseby was struggling to provide for her family, as the financial support she was receiving from the SCTP was not enough. “Once I got the SCTP money, I would spend all the money in a week and couldn’t save enough to provide for my family,” she recalls. As part of PRO-ACT project, United Purpose (UP) was able to support Roseby with rain-fed seeds, including maize, ground nuts and beans. Furthermore, in October 2018, using the financial support from the SCTP, Roseby became a member of Tikondane Village Bank. “I joined the village bank after being encouraged to do so by our field facilitator from United Purpose. Having failed to sustain my small business, I was convinced that there was something I was not doing right,” she says.
my peers leading in singing hymns at church because they were able to read.” Roseby says. As a VSL member, she was required to sign on all transaction forms she had made which was difficult for her as she was illiterate. Roseby enrolled for classes in February 2019. “Being her first time in a class room, it was challenging for her. She almost dropped out on the first day. I knew she was just nervous and couldn’t let her quit as she just needed time to adapt to the new environment,” recalls her teacher, Gloria Muthawa. “Before Pro-ACT project started raising awareness and encouraging adults to join the classes, I had few students. Since then the class attendance has increased from 4 to 17 students,” added Gloria. Since she enrolled for classes, Roseby has significantly improved her writing, reading and counting skills. “She is a good student, always quiet, pays attention and asks relevant questions. She is able to explain some of the concepts to her peers while in class and actively participate in the classes,” says her teacher. Roseby is expected to graduate in 2020.
In the meantime, she became the treasurer of Tikondane Village Bank after being unanimously chosen by the group members to manage their finances. With the Pro-ACT project also encouraged her to join the adult savings she made, Roseby was also able to buy a chicken literacy classes, so that she could learn how to write and as a start-up for her livestock farming. read. This is how Roseby decided to join Namangolo Adult Literacy class. “Seeing my grandchildren going to school and Currently, Roseby is encouraging others to enrol in being able to read and write motivated me to study. I was literacy classes. always looking for opportunities to learn. I always admired
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A wind of change, Patricia Machaka’s story
Patricia and her family
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fter Mulanje district was hit by flooding in 2015, Partricia Machaka and her family’s lives were turned upside down. The floods destroyed their house and washed away their yearly harvest. In order to feed her family, Patricia had to do ganyu (piecework) and no longer had time to tend to her own farm. Patricia’s husband Sylvester has a chronic illness and is unable to work, so she is the sole provider for her family. Her children had to drop out of school as they could no longer afford the fees. Since joining the Social Cash Transfer (SCT) Program and receiving support from Pro-ACT through United Purpose, Patricia has been able to get her family’s life back on track. The money they received from the SCT Programme alone was not enough to support their large family, and could not cover basic needs such as food and school fees. However, with the support from ProACT project, Patricia and her family have the skills and resources to be more resilient and self-reliant in the face of climate change. Patricia is now a member of a Village Savings and Loans (VSL) group, and has been able to take out a loan to set up a small family business selling rice.
“Our lives have completely changed due to this climate change because our expectations of what we plant and what we get is quite different. It’s either our crops dry due to too much heat or are washed away by the floods. We try as much as we can and put our efforts to change in terms of farming but end up being disappointed with changes in climate.”
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Before the flooding, Patricia’s family survived on pigeon peas and maize. Each year their farm only produced enough to feed the family for 3 to 4 months. “Initially our household was food insecure, we had to buy everything from the market. But when our facilitators from United Purpose taught us about backyard gardens, we can testify that our lives have changed. We now cook vegetables from our gardens and we can easily alternate on what to eat,” explains Patricia. Pro-ACT project provided Patricia with seeds and the knowledge to plant a diverse garden. She now farms mustard, maize, pigeon peas, rape, Chinese cabbage, pumpkin and orange flesh sweet potatoes. She can feed her family a balanced diet and generate income through selling her excess vegetables. Through the Pro-ACT livestock pass on scheme, Patricia received two goats, which she will give to other community members once they produce offspring. Patricia is excited by the opportunities created through livestock farming. She no longer needs to buy expensive fertiliser, as she uses the goat dung to make manure for the garden. “The goats will help us, especially in cases we happen to have not harvested enough maize. As the goats reproduce offspring, we will be able to sell some of them so that we buy food as well as manage to pay school fees for our children so that they continue with their studies,” says Patricia. In the future, Patricia hopes to use her earnings from livestock and vegetables to build a new house with electricity.
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Catchment conservation: the way to go
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Social Cash Transfer beneficiaries in the Minama block’s tree nurseries
ayeleka Jackson (25) is the Chairman of the Minama Block in Group Village Headman Minama, Zomba district. The block has 63 members (42 women and 21 men). He was elected as Chairman as he was one of the people who used to produce charcoal in this area, an activity that has significantly contributed to deforestation. He is now able to give valuable input into community antideforestation efforts. Climate change and deforestation has greatly affected Yayeleka’s community. “We had cut down trees for charcoal production and other people opened up land for farming on the hill which is a forest area. We were experiencing food insecurity. People did not even have access to firewood because there were no more trees left on the hill. We could only see the stumps that were regenerating. People were using maize stalks for cooking. With low production, people could not have surplus to sell and get income and therefore poverty was worsening. That is when the government decided to handover the management of the forest area on the hill to the traditional leaders,” explains Yayeleka. The catchment area has 21 traditional chiefs who mobilise their members to take care of the forest. The traditional chiefs also developed by-laws to protect the forest. A firebreak was built around the forest area. As the trees grow, the block prune them. The prunes are collected by the community members for firewood at a fee of K100 per bundle. The money collected is shared between the
community and the government. 60% goes to community fund, 30% to the Forestry department and 10% to the board. The community fund is used for community needs. For instance, the bridge on Minama River got damaged and part of the money was used to repair it.
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In 2018, Save the Children worked alongside the community to review the by-laws and the penalty fees were revised. If one is caught cutting trees in the forest, the penalty ranges from K5, 000 to K10, 000 depending on the size of the tree. Pro-ACT project implemented in Zomba district by Save the Children also supported the community to develop a new Forest Management Plan which was finalized in October 2019. The community has now reclaimed over 10 hectares of forestland once encroached on by farmers. Furthermore, Pro-ACT project supported the catchment area with 20,000 polythene tubes, tree seeds, 4 wheelbarrows, 4 slashers, 4 hoes and 4 watering cans which allowed the Minama block to establish tree nurseries. “We are also preparing a nursery for 4000 fruit trees that we received from Pro-ACT project. These fruit tree seedlings will be shared with each household to plant in the homestead. Fruits are important to our lives as they provide essential nutrients to our bodies. We have also received vetiver grass to plant along the contour bunds. We also received Tephrosia vogelii to plant as part of improving soil fertility,” explains Yayeleka. Seedlings are distributed between surrounding schools and churches, and given to Social Cash Transfer (SCT) beneficiaries to plant at their homes. To help reduce levels of deforestation, the project also distributed Chitetezo Mbaula, fuel-efficient cook stoves, that require less firewood to SCT beneficiaries.
a pass-on scheme which means that when the goats produce offspring, the offspring will be pass on to other beneficiaries. Pro-ACT project also trained beneficiaries to use the goat manure to create compost to use in their gardens and boost farming yields. Yayeleka is happy and proud of how his community with support from Pro-ACT project has managed to restore the forest area and they are already experiencing the benefits of this: “I have personally seen that it is better to do irrigation than charcoal production. More trees were lost in charcoal production leading to land degradation but now we have seen that nature is being restored. We have seen Lake Chirwa regaining its glory after our rivers have running water throughout the year. We are now able to fish in the lake. We can now see mushrooms and wildlife animals in our forest. Irrigation was a challenge but now we are able to do irrigation activities because there is water in the river. We have to plant more trees and take care of them for us to continue irrigation activities. Without trees there is no water, without water there is no irrigation and no life.”
Furthermore, Pro-ACT project trained the Natural Resource Committee and SCT beneficiaries in natural resource management, climate change and goat management. The project also provided SCT beneficiaries with goats on
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Changing mindsets using the gender household approach The wife explaining the family’s vision which was drafted on paper
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keda Ngalande, the Village headman of Mbyalima village in G.V.H Duswa, STA Sunganinzeru once prided himself on being the head of the household and making all decisions on behalf of his family. “Being a man and a chief, I had always assumed that I could make all the decisions without consulting anyone not alone my wife,” says Mr. Ngalande. Okeda participated in Gender Household Approach training organized by United Purpose as part of Pro-ACT project. The training addressed gender inequalities and power relations within households, such as women’s lack of access and control over assets and denying women the right to participate in decision-making. “After attending the training by virtue of being a member of the Village Development Committee (VDC), I realized that decisions need to be made in consultation with all family members,” explains Mr. Ngalande. The Village headman has been married for more than 20 years and has four sons between the ages of 3 and 20 years old. The chief’s wife is a college graduate who did her General Fitting studies at Nasawa Technical College. Despite paying tuition fees for his wife up to college level, the chief forced her to quit her job. “I was earning a living and helping the household with the salary I was receiving, but my husband listened to rumors that I was being promiscuous to the extent I was given one option to choose between my marriage or my job. I chose to quit my job to save my marriage” comments the wife. Before the training, all the household work was done by Ngalande’s wife. “I was left to do all the household
chores alone and my efforts to my make my sons’ assist me in chores were being shot down by my husband, who would always say that since they were all male they couldn’t do chores which were meant for women”, explains Mrs. Ngalande. The training caused the Village headman to reexamine how he values the contribution his wife and children make to the family. After the training, he organized a family meeting where they came up with a three-year family vision of owning a house, livestock and a motorbike. To accomplish the vision, the family has planted maize, cowpeas, groundnuts, cassava and rice and from selling those inputs, we will be able to buy 60 meters iron sheets this year. Mrs. Ngalande appreciates the changes in her husband following the training: “He now helps with household work, allows my sons to help with the chores and above all allowed me to start applying for jobs. We are living happily as a family. Had it been we were trained earlier, our lives wouldn’t have been the same.” As a Village-headman, Mr. Ngalande is eager in setting the right example and acting as a role model for the community. “Soon after being trained, I called for a village meeting where I shared with my people what I had learnt. So far, four households have adopted the gender equalities concept and can as well testify to its importance. My role as a chief now is to ensure that more households in my community adopt the concept.”
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Pro-ACT: A resilience boost for Elida Maganga
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lida Maganga, a 48-year-old mother of four children living in Kunselema village, Mulanje district, vividly recalls how her family used to struggle to make ends meet as if it were yesterday. “We used to go up to several days without food; even the days that we ate, I could not afford to give my children three meals a day. My children stopped going to school as they had no school uniforms, books or pencils.” Elida says when she lost her husband, things got even worse. “It was already hard for us as parents to support the family but when my husband died, I had to take the burden all by myself.” However, things began to change for the better when Elida received support from the Malawian government’s Social Cash Transfer (SCT) programme and later through Concern Worldwide under the Pro-Resilience Action (Pro-ACT) project. With support through Pro-ACT, Elida joined a Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLA) in her village where she invested the government-funded SCT in order to take a larger share to use for her business idea. After getting her share out, she was able to start a fritters business as well as construct a new home for her family. Elida acknowledges that the profits from this small business are performing wonders for the family as she is now capable of supporting her family with basic necessities including food, school uniforms and books for her children. She has also since repaid her loan back to the VSLA through the proceeds from her small business.
Elida with her children in front of her new house
Beyond a new flourishing business, her situation began to improve elsewhere. Elida planted a kitchen vegetable garden with the seeds and support she received from Pro-ACT Field Officers. “The vegetables from the garden are a source of food and income for my family,” Elida says. She also joined an irrigation scheme in her area, where she is part of a club that is growing various commercial crops. Elida was also able to learn how to make Mbeya (organic) manure from the project, which according to her is revolutionising her farming career. “Mbeya manure is cheap and easy to make. I am now able to harvest more yields at a lower cost.” Pro-ACT also supported Elida’s family with goats, which she expects to be a source of income once they reproduce. Elida also defied traditional gender role perceptions in her community by constructing a goat’s kraal (enclosure) on her own. Elida is a very happy mother now that her family’s welfare has taken a turn for the better. “I am now able to support my family with food and many other basic needs,” she says proudly. In the near future, Elida plans to invest more in irrigation farming and engage in growing her business bigger to make more money and harvest more food for her small family. She is very happy and proud of what Concern in collaboration with the government has done for her, such that she wishes the partnership could continue and be extended to other families in her area. “The project has helped me and my family a lot. We do not lack anymore.”
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Energising Mulanje prison: Improving food availability and energy efficiency
s part of ProACT project, the consortium partners (Save the Children, Concern Worldwide and United Purpose) are providing support to three prisons in Zomba, Nsanje and Mulanje with the aim to increase food availability for prisoners. In Mulanje prison, United Purpose installed a biogas digester and the necessary cooking accessories, including oil jacket pots and a biogas booster pump. The biogas digester will significantly improve food security and nutrition quality of approximately 450 prisoners while contributing to decreased use of firewood. Furthermore, as the prison experiences recurrent power cuts (in part due to the fact that electricity bills are not always paid on time by the government), the biogas generated will be also used as a back-up lighting system. Moreover, the sludge from biogas production will be used as organic fertilizer to stimulate and increase crop production in the prison’s farmland. The biogas digester is a renewable, as well as a clean, source of energy as gas generated through biodigestion is non-polluting and it actually reduces greenhouse emissions. Finally, the biogas digester is a cost-effective technology and its maintenance is relatively easy and cheap. Prior to the installation of the biogas digester, UP recruited Intrinsic Biogas Company to conduct a feasibility study and assess whether the conditions in Mulanje prison allowed for a biogas digester to be installed in its premises. Intrinsic Biogas Company was chosen as the company had also installed a biogas digester in another prison in Mangochi district. After the findings of this study showed that a biogas digester could be installed
at the premises of the prison and based on the availability of feed stock (human waste), Intrinsic Biogas proposed to install a 230 cubic meter biogas plant which will be enough to meet the needs of the prison. The installation of the biogas digester started in October 2019 and was completed in March 2020. According to Mulanje prison officials, before the installation of the plant, the prison used to spend MK1,200,000 on average per month on preparing meals for the prisoners (MK600,000 was spent on electricity bills and MK600,000 buying 60 cubic meters of firewood a month). The biogas digester will contribute to the prison’s energy selfsufficiency, as it has a capacity of 100 cubic meters per month, with an average usage of 10 cubic meters used for cooking per day. “We anticipate to reduce the electricity cost by 80% but it is still our hope that the prison completely prepares the prisoners’ meals using the biogas digester,” said the prison officials. The cost of the biogas equipment and installation is MK21 million. Considering the plant’s lifespan of 16 years, it means that the prison will be able to save a considerable amount of money as a result of the reduced electricity
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use. In addition, there will be reduction in deforestation thus ensuring greater environmental sustainability and energy self-sufficiency. To ensure the proper use and maintenance of the biogas digester, a training was organised following the installation of the plant. As the prison has a high turnover of staff, the contractor trained lead prisoners along with 8 prison officials to ensure better sustainability of the biogas digester. “I am delighted and satisfied with the orientation and I believe that once the plant is fully operation, the prison will be able to cut the cost as anticipated. Having tested the pots, some of the prisoners (cooks) are already happy with the development as this will mean that they will no longer be exposed to the smoke infested firewood burners,” explained a prison official.
The digester also produces bio-slurry which retains a high content of organic matter, Nitrogen, Phosphorus (P) and Potassium (K) which will be used as fertilizer for food crops. “We have started preparing our vegetable garden and we will apply the bio-slurry to ensure that we have a good harvest,” said the prison officials. Furthermore, to improve the food and nutrition security of the prisoners by supporting them to boost crop production on the prison’s farmland, the project also provided prisoners with farm inputs, including seeds and pesticides and trained them in kitchen gardens and best agricultural practices to support food diversification.
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