Plan Malawi Annual Progress Report 2009

A YEAR IN

MALAWI SUMMARY REPORT

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• 14% of adults are HIV positive, and 91,000 children have the virus Rufiji

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GOOD REASONS why Plan works in Malawi

• Severe poverty is widespread and there are frequent food shortages

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• One in six children die before their fifth birthday • Child abuse, sexual exploitation and child labour are serious problems

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• Improving mother and child health, and providing clean drinking water COMOROS and sanitation facilities

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• Reducing the impact of HIV/AIDS on children and their families MOZAMBIQUE

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Country Office Programme Unit

• Helping families to increase their food production and household income • Raising educational standards, and increasing the number of children who attend school • Increasing awareness of women and children’s rights, and supporting communities to put these into practice

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MALAWI FACTS SOUTH AFRICA

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Capital: Lilongwe Population: 13.6 million Language: English and Chichewa Climate: Malawi’s climate is hot in the low-lying areas in the south SWAZILAND of the country and temperate in the northern highlands. The altitude moderates what would be an otherwise equatorial climate. Between November ge

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and April the temperature is warm with equatorial rains and thunderstorms, with the storms reaching their peak severity in late March. After March, the rainfall rapidly diminishes and from May to September wet mists float from the highlands into the plateaus, with almost no rainfall during these months.

Economy: Malawi is among the world’s least developed and most densely populated

countries. The economy Mangoky is MADAGASCAR heavily agriculture-based, with around 85% of the population living in rural areas. More than onethird of GDP and 90% of export revenues come from agriculture. The economy of Malawi has in the past been dependent on substantial economic aid from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and individual nations.

A farmers club discusses cassava farming

A YEAR IN

MALAW09I SUMMARY REPORT

FOCUS ON: INCREASING FOOD PRODUCTION AND HOUSEHOLD INCOMES 80% of Malawians live in rural areas and depend on subsistence farming. Malawi suffers from recurrent food shortages due to drought, poor agricultural practices, the impact of HIV/AIDS and the limited amount of land available per family. As a result, nearly half of under-fives are stunted due to malnutrition.

Plan helps families to increase their incomes and food production by introducing new farming methods, better food storage and processing, and better livestock management.

We help farmers sell their produce, and provide business training and financial services such as small savings, loans and credit schemes. We also provide nutrition education.

HELPING PARENTS PROVIDE FOR THEIR CHILDREN A school room poses for a photo in Muhiyo community

The Bigger Picture

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he community of Mthyoka, central Malawi, has suffered from food shortages for over ten years.

Many farmers cannot produce enough food for their families, and when their harvests are inadequate, they have no money to buy food.

Plan is working with children, families and whole communities to address the problems that Malawi faces. This report can only tell a small part of that story. As a further insight, last year we also:

To help families increase their incomes and make sure they have enough to eat, Plan supported 20 farmers to form a ‘Cassava Club’, which helps members improve their production of cassava and find new markets for it.

• Reduced maternal and newborn deaths by helping to build and equip a mother and child health unit in Kaluluma Rural Hospital, Mzuzu

One of Malawi’s staple foods, cassava is a cheap, easy-to-grow crop cultivated for its starchy root which can be cooked in several ways. In 2006, the first year of the club, each farmer was given two bundles of cassava cuttings, with each bundle containing 50 one-metre stems. Each farmer then produced a minimum of 30 bundles from the original two bundles. Plan helped the club to identify markets where they could sell cassava stem cuttings and roots which were surplus to their own families’ needs.

• Reduced water-borne diseases by providing 28 water points serving 7,000 people, and training committees to maintain them • Established 21 HIV Counselling and Testing clinics which have tested 19,750 people • Improved schools by helping to construct and rehabilitate 165 classrooms.

Your support as a sponsor is crucial to achieving these positive results. So on behalf of the communities, partner organisations, and most of all the children we work with – thank you!

“Our life standards have improved.

We are able to buy basic needs and assets and most of us have enough.”

To learn more about Plan’s work in Malawi visit www.plan.org.au/ourwork/southernafrica/malawi

Produced for Malawi by the Australian National Office.

Enough to eat Now families have a more reliable and more plentiful food supply than before. They harvest enough cassava to last through the ‘hungry season’ from December to February, when the old crop has usually been eaten and the new crop isn’t ready. They use the cash earned from selling cassava to buy fertiliser for maize, another staple food, and their maize production has increased.

Cash is also used to buy other types of food, making families’ diets more varied and nutritious.

Farmers have used some of the money they have earned to buy assets that they couldn’t previously afford. Some have bought livestock such as goats and poultry, and items like bicycles, furniture, and mobile phones. Some have expanded the land they have available for growing food by renting gardens from friends.

“Now enrolment has increased as parents are able to prepare something for the children.”

Club members are pleased with what they’ve achieved. One farmer says: “The project is sustainable as we can see a lot of farmers have joined us. “Our life standards have improved.

We are able to buy basic needs and assets, and most of us have enough.”

Better nutrition and better education As well as reducing child malnutrition, the project is also helping children get a better education.

Before the project began, most children had to go to school on an empty stomach, which reduced their attendance as well as their ability to concentrate on their schoolwork. Now, children can go to school after a breakfast of boiled cassava, or porridge made from maize flour, and attendance has increased as a result.

The community’s teachers are pleased at the difference the project has made: “Before the project started there was a lot of absenteeism because most households couldn’t afford to give children breakfast. Now enrolment has increased as parents are able to prepare something for the children.”

Working together Community members have worked together to solve their problems. Plan provided advice and expertise, and supplied the starter bundles of cassava, but club members themselves have worked hard on their land to make the project a success. They have developed a sense of ownership of the project, meaning that it is sustainable.

They’ve also helped to get other farmers involved.

Twelve new clubs have been set up with at least 15 members each.

This project shows how with just a little extra help, families will make the most of the opportunity to increase their incomes, making a real difference to their lives, and providing a more secure future for their children.

Some names have been changed for child protection and privacy purposes.

plan.org.au