MALAWI
selfhelpafrica.org
2018
2018
Linisi Chiumya (35),village Kamtenthenga, Malawi, 2015.
S
elf Help Africa directly implements projects
sustainable livelihoods, is in line with the government’s
in Malawi. The programme goal, to support
current Growth and Development Strategy II.
smallholder farming communities to achieve
MALAWI MALAWI malawi
zambia
burkinafaso
ghana
kenya
togo
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Donor
Total Budget
Time Frame
Implementing Partner
Programme Area
01
BETTER
European Commission
€ 14,697,478
2018 2022
Action Aid, ADRA, Plan International, and Evangelical Association of Malawi (EAM)
Chitipa, Karonga, Mzimba, Nkhata Bay, Nkhotakota, Kasungu, Salima, Mulanje, Chiradzulu and Thyolo Districts.
02
Sustainable Livelihood Improvement Resilience Project (SLIP)
Big Lottery Fund
€ 751,437
2015
Blantyre Synod Health & Devt Commission, Nkhadze Alive Youth Organisation
Nkaya & Balaka
Shire Basin Sustainable Natural Resources Management Social Enhancement Project
Millennium Challenge Account
Balaka District
2018
CEPA (Centre for Environmental Policy and Advocacy)
Developing Remote Sensing Technology to Monitor Fall Armyworm
World Bank
2018
-
Balaka Dsitrict
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04
2018
€ 514,546
€ 24,832
2015
MALAWI PROGRAMMES
Programme
2019
Malidadi Chilongo from Kaphika Village, Malawi, 2015
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MALAWI PROGRAMMES
01
BETTER EXTENSION TRAINING TRANSFORMING ECONOMIC RETURN (BETTER)
Objective: to increase resilience, food, nutrition, and income security of 402,000 smallholder farmers through sustainable agricultural growth in Malawi. Smallholders produce approximately 80% of Malawi’s food,
integrating nutrition training and appropriate small-scale
and most of the population of rural Malawi are dependent
irrigation technologies; and training of smallholder farmers
on rain-fed agriculture.
on diversification of crops, including early maturing varieties, drought and flood tolerant crops.
The food situation in Malawi has been worsened by El Niño, which heavily affected the 2015-16 agricultural season.
A key constraint for many farmers is access to information
Maize is the most significant crop for food security, but
to guide their production decisions. Improved agricultural
recent outputs have been well below the amount required
extension services provide farmers with the information
to meet national needs, underlining the need for crop
that they need to address their challenges and to exploit
diversification. Around 40% of Malawi’s citizens were
opportunities are important to enable Malawi’s farmers
projected to suffer from food insecurity in 2016-17, with
to significantly raise their productivity levels through
estimates suggesting that 6.7 million people would not be
sustainable agricultural practices.
able to meet their food requirements that year. Female smallholders are especially vulnerable to food
To combat this, we are also adopting new technologies
insecurity due to their unequal access to land and credit
to make farming more efficient. For this we are organizing
and their disproportionate burden of labour.
the farmers into Farmer Field School groups. They will be farmer-led research to document and share best practices,
This European Union-funded grant project is a collaboration
training farmers in data collection and record management,
between Self Help Africa (SHA) and Action Aid Malawi
linking farmer groups to mobile-phone based information
(AAM), Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA),
services on sustainable agricultural methodologies, and
Plan International UK and the Evangelical Association of
developing Community Early Warning Systems (EWS) in
Malawi (EAM).
flood and drought-prone areas.
Crop diversification and improved adoption of alternative
These actions have been designed to contribute to
crops has been one of the Government of Malawi’s key
improving agricultural productivity in the targeted 10
strategies to achieving food and income security. Malawi
KULIMA districts by improving capacity of smallholder
depends mainly on maize and tobacco for food and income
farmers to farm in a more effective manner, thus reducing
security, however in recent years maize production has
their vulnerability to shocks.
been heavily affected by climate variability and tobacco prices have been low due to anti-smoking campaigns. There is need for crop diversification in alternative crops which have a relative comparative advantage. SHA are undertaking a number of activities to build capacity among smallholder farmers to increase production and efficiency. These include: supporting farmer field school groups to promote sustainable agricultural practices, including Conservation Agriculture and soil and water conservation; promoting the adoption of legume and smallscale vegetable production including backyard gardening,
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Beneficiaries: • 402,000 smallholder farmers (including 241,201 females)
THE PROJECT IN NUMBERS: • 13,000 farmer field schools will be created to provide training and promote new crops and climate-smart farming methods. • 400,000 families will be trained using a network of community-based field school. • The project will intervene in 10 of Malawi’s 28 national districts
Ethel Khundi (32) with daughter Memory (13), Whunachu Village, Malawi, 2017.
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MALAWI PROGRAMMES
Veronica Brown (43) and her daughter Linda Kampira (18), Kuma village, 2017.
SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOODS IMPROVEMENT PROJECT (SLIP)
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Objective: to reduce poverty levels and improve livelihood resilience of 2,000 poor smallholder households in Balaka District, southern Malawi.
03
SHIRE BASIN SUSTAINABLE NATURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT SOCIAL ENHANCEMENT PROJECT
Objective: to contribute to improving power generation through community-based sustainable use and management of natural resources.
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and rain-fed food production systems that are facing
T
increasing challenges from land degradation and declining
hydropower facilities. This also negatively affects many of
soil fertility.
the country’s smallholder farmers by reducing soil fertility,
SLIP is promoting improved livelihood security through
yields, income and food security.
increased and diversified crop and livestock production;
Self Help Africa plans to improve power generation by
improved ecological resilience through improved natural
reducing erosion and sedimentation. In order to achieve
resource management; increased incomes and increased
this, the project is focusing on improving local management
and diversified livelihoods options through community-
of natural resources; improving community participation
based rural enterprises.
in environmental and natural decision-making; improving
Self Help Africa aims to establish profitable and sustainable
sustainable management and utilisation of forests and
community-based rural enterprises with developed market
woodlots; promoting conservation agriculture, and
access skills and access to financial services. It is also vital
integrated soil fertility management and agro-forestry
to strengthen the capacity of beneficiaries to effectively
practices.
implement and manage their livelihood activities. This
It will also address the social and gender constraints and
will eventually lead to increased and diversified livelihood
inequalities in sustainable agriculture and natural resource
options and an increase in household incomes.
management. The intervention will focus on engaging
This project will focus on strengthening existing services
communities to promote joint decision making at both
and community structures in their own right. In this manner,
community and household levels. This will be delivered
after the project winds down, local government and farmer
through the provision of literacy training in order to allow
groups should have emerging, workable procedures for
farmers to engage in value addition and marketing.
continuing livelihood opportunities, thus ensuring the
Through this project, communities will have better
sustainability of the project.
participation in decision-making processes surrounding
alaka is one of the districts in Malawi that faces perennial hunger because of frequent dry spells. Agriculture is dominated by subsistence farming
he Shire River is Malawi’s most important water resource, however, severe erosion is resulting in sedimentation of the River Basin, causing water
shortages and reducing the effectiveness of Malawi’s
the natural resources that they use to survive. It will
Beneficiaries:
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decentralise institutions, and foster a sense of ownership
• 12,000 households
and responsibility around natural resources.
• 50% women
Beneficiaries:
• 12,000 disadvantaged individuals reached in Traditional Authority (T/A) Nkaya, Balaka District
• 3,500 households in Balaka district (21,000 people) • 50% women
Maize infected by Fall Armyworm, Malawi, 2017.
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DEVELOPING REMOTE SENSING TECHNOLOGY TO MONITOR FALL ARMYWORM
Objective: to contribute to the solution of the Fall Armyworm (FAW) problem by developing a tool for the detection of its hotspots.
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ood security in Malawi has been worsened by
The aim of the project is to create a model to detect and
the increasing prevalence of pests and diseases,
monitor Fall Armyworm (FAW) outbreaks and severity.
including the emergence of the FAW affecting
This model will then be developed into a software tool to
621,875 smallholder farmers. The emergence of the FAW
help public institutions, NGOs and commercial farmers to
across Malawi and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) poses a
maximize the benefits of insecticide, manage yield losses,
critical continuous and recurrent threat to smallholder
and adapt to climate change challenges.
farmers across the continent. In the initial stages of this project, data will be collected This project is being delivered by an innovative collaboration
at both satellite and field levels, this data will then be
between: SHA, University College Dublin, and Orbas
processed and cleaned, and the model was then built
with the support of the relevant local government district
and optimised based on the baseline data to monitor any
authorities in Balaka District in Malawi.
changes.
Beneficiaries: • 3,500 households in Balaka district (21,000 people) • 50% women
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MALAWI PO Box B-495 Lilongwe, Tel. +265 1750568 E-mail: malawi@selfhelpafrica.org
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June 2018
Cover: Molly Nyasulu (53), Wazikaza village, Karonga, Malawi, 2017.