Who knew development and change could be so entertaining? StoryWorkshop and the role of the media

StoryWorkshop is a non-profit media organization working to effect change in Malawi through radio dramas, comic books, and other media, addressing food security, HIV/AIDS and health, education, the environment, and social issues such as gender inequality and teen sex .  The NGO was founded in 1996 by Pamela Brooke, an American artist and educator, and is funded by organizations such as CORDAID and the EU.  On July 23 I met with Joke van Kampen, program director, at the StoryWorkshop studio in Blantyre.

Real Stories, Real Dramas: Addressing GBV (Gender-Based Violence)

Because gender inequality exacerbates poverty in Malawi, StoryWorkshop works to change attitudes and perceptions towards gender issues and to promote equality.   In 2005, Malawian news was inundated with media reports on cases of violence against women and girls.   Shortly after StoryWorkshop partnered with non-governmental organization Women’s Voice, which works for the empowerment of women.  Their collaborative efforts brought forth Kamanga Zula, a radio drama and publication, to address gender-based violence in Malawi.

Kamanga Zula ( in Chichewa meaning “uproot that which needs to be uprooted”) is a series of radio dramas followed by panel discussions that air each week over the course of eighteen months.  What makes StoryWorkshop dramas unique is that they are in fact based on real events: writers from the organization spend roughly a month in a village and record the happenings, and turn those stories into education entertainment.   The panel discussions—held two days after each episode—produce a dialogue between Malawian men and women, who exchange views on topics that are relevant to each episode– for example culture myths that perpetrate GBV and the role of marriage counselors and police enforcement in dealing with it.  StoryWorkshop adheres to the idea that it is more important to spark communication among the people than simply to impart a message.

And do Malawians receive the messages?  Eighty percent of the Malawian population has access to radio, making radio dramas a practical medium to deliver entertainment and education.   StoryWorkshop dramas are broadcasted on MBC (Malawian Broadcasting Corporation) Radio One.    The boarding school drama Timasukirane, which is aimed at sexually active teens and differs from the usual abstinence-only programs and education about sex issues, airs at 7:30 pm each Sunday—and is heard by 69% of the country.  Tumasukirane Radio Drama addresses issues such as HIV, partner fidelity, HIV/AIDS-based discrimination, partner power dynamics in relationships, STI screening and health issues, illicit and usually harmful relationships between teachers and students, and poverty.  It is common for many Malawians from the southern, northern, and central parts of the country to gather in listening clubs in their villages to hear the dramas.  Like other StoryWorkshop programs, the Timasukirane episodes are followed by weekly dialogues between young people.

Because the dramas are research-based and founded upon real people and stories, one teen soap drama and comic book is named ZImachitika—“These Things Happen”.  Sankha Wekha, another radio program and comic series, is aimed at keeping girls in school.  The program focuses on dilemmas girls face such as “sugar daddy” relationships, especially between girl s and teachers, and in raising awareness of the situation, as well as how to avoid such situations and how to claim girls’rights and report misbehavior of teachers.  The series has also exposed the economic exploitation of girls by older men in Malawi, though particularly in schools.

In order to get a feel for the influence of StoryWorkshop programs, the focus group discussions are important for the text writers to receive feedback to maintain the program.  Individual household surveys (in listeners’s clubs, and in other areas) ask questions to find out who listens to the programs, and what time of day women are able to listen.   In addition sample surveys are submitted to test the population on how well they know StoryWorkshop and to ask people what they have learned.   The studio receives feedback in the form of letters, many of which remark on the similarities between events in the dramas and parallel occurrences in their schools or villages.

Purpose and Strategy

According to program Director Joke van Kampen, there are several layers to the purpose of StoryWorkshop.  StoryWorkshop’s role in safeguarding freedom of speech and of the press is important in the context that the country is still struggling with a free press and free media. In addition StoryWorkshop aims to expose Malawians to quality media products, either by broadcasting or making their own movies.  “Communication is a science, but it is also an art,” says van Kampen, and advises any media organization to remain close to their audience.  In this StoryWorkshop has succeeded: their media and dramas are entirely based on their audience’s experiences and stories.

 On another level the organization advocates change—for women’s rights, children’s rights, and good governance.  The NGO does not become involved in party politics but is engaged in human rights campaigning, such as in the advocacy of poor prisoners through programs aiding young people in jail. The organization also conducts significant research, such as how gender-based violence is reported in the media, in order to produce relevant and effective media.

Other Issues and Future Plans

In addition to producing radio dramas and comic series, StoryWorkshop has a number of programs aimed at promoting food security across the country.  When StoryWorkshop is invited to visit villages, the NGO makes an advance visit to identify the biggest problem facing the community.  From then the organization structures their programs around those issues.  In terms of food security, StoryWorkshop teaches nutrition based on the communities’ local food supplies, creating media such as visuals with the different food groups, as well as instructional media to educate the people in intercropping (to promote soil fertility) and beekeeping (to lessen dependence upon maize).  In addition the villages are taught methods for using natural pesticides, such as chili peppers.   StoryWorkshop brings theaters to some villages to have screenings for educational videos.

Local youth theater groups are taught by StoryWorkshop members how to make a performance about an issues that is important to their community and that is controversial (such as property grabbing from widows).  StoryWorkshop teaches the village theater group how to develop and write a script.

Van Kampen would like to see StoryWorkshop expand into the television sector, in addition to having young people make their own radio programs in the studio.  For now, Malawians continue to tune in to MBC each week to listen to the stories that are happening to their very own families and villages.

The Volcano Effect: Malawi Lake Basin Programme

Salima woman with compost mound

women posing with their solar vegetable dryer

MLBP funds activities to acquire livestock and animals; this woman is displaying a newly built cage in anticipation of the arrival of guinea pigs and goats for the community

Salima girl and sibling. Both are cared for by the community-based childcare centre

teacher and Group Secretary outside the community-based childcare centre

Programme Director Marcello Dougnac

In place of setting up their own independent organizations to work in the country, some organizations are working more with local communities and supplying funding for local programs to alleviate poverty.  Malawi Lake Basin Programme (MLBP) has a different approach than such organizations as UNICEF and WorldVision in that it is funded by two Scandivanian organizations  who are involved in the planning but work to empower existing community organizations.

In July I visited Programme Director Marcello Dougnac at the Salima Tembwe Field Office and visited various community groups and programs MLBP is helping.

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The Malawi Lake Basin Programme, co-funded by the Swedish Cooperative Union (Kooperation Utan Granser) and Vi Agroforestry (Viskogen), primarily operates in Districts Salima and Mangochi and the surrounding areas, although claims a surface presence at the national level.  The main targets are the nation’s extreme poor, 80% of whom are clustered in the southern part of the lake.  The focus strategy is what Programme director Marcelo Dougnac of the Swedish Cooperative Centre refers to as the “volcano method”.  According to Dougnac, there are two ways to make a change: one can “bomb” from the top and “make a hole”—a top-down strategy—or one can mimic a volcano and work at a grassroots level, from the bottom-up, and create an “explosion”. 

The “volcano” is the movement aided by the Programme to address a variety of factors contributing to poverty in the area and to set in motion a chain of events that are slowly building the communities.  The Programme empowers farmers—particularly women—in the area and funds organizations such as NASFAM (National Association of Farmers in Malawi) and FUM( Farmer’s Union of Malawi).  The Programme sponsors crop diversification and extra household income-generating activities to better income security and lessen dependence upon maize. 

Currently the Programme has ended its first period of three years, and the Swedish Cooperative Centre recently signed a new 5-year agreement with Norway for funding the program.  The first part of the program, Norwegian ambassador Björn Johannessen had remarked, was intended to create the new opportunities for the people; now it is time to make use of them.   The Programme targets food and income security, power relations and gender equality, group savings and loans, and technology ; and with these improvements, the local people have contributed the extra income to provide for projects of their own to better their communities.

Food and Income Security and Local Economic Growth

MLBP funds NASFAM and FUM, the two major farmer’s organizations in Malawi, and has had success in bringing the two organizations together to negotiate in tandem with the government for farmer’s rights and fair prices.   Previously FUM has been known for lobbying for rights and for mobilization of farmers, while NASFAM concentrates more on the marketing aspects and business development.   To a great extent  MLBP has  facilitated collaboration between the groups.

The Chief Executives from NASFAM, FUM, and MUSCCO have met with their sister organizations in Sweden, in addition to their participation in the SACAU, to increase their opportunities to influence policies at the regional and international level.  Through the Programme, cluster marketing committees, EPA Associations and District Unions have been established as well, in addition to leadership training of over 100 farmer’s groups.

Dougnac, who has been in the area nearly 30 years and in Malawi since 1999, has stated the need for a holistic approach: in addition to selling and marketing and generating capital through production, the Programme should recognize the rights of farmers and create change in response to these rights.

Initially the four EPAs where the Programme has operated were mono producers, growing only maize during the winter season; MLBP has introduced integrated agriculture such as marketable field crops, fruit trees, and vegetable production.    The Programme has provided on-loan start-up capital as farm inputs.  To better household incomes, MLBP has introduced and supported activities such as eco/agro tourism, bee keeping, carpentry, fish farming, and tailoring as well as food processing technologies—for example solar drying for long-term storage.

One of the MLBP’s major goals is to transform the subsistence economy and household production into market-oriented production and commercial agriculture.    In order to promote local economic growth and organization development, MLBP continues to fund NASFAM, FUM, and MUSCCO and is focusing on organizational leadership and competent services for its members, for example agricultural inputs, rural financial services and produce marketing systems.

Power Relations and Equality

A greater number of the poor in Malawi are women as a consequence of discrimination and subordination in social practices, which also means the women face greater hurdles in conquering poverty.  MLBP has addressed this issue from the beginning of its pilot program, even biasing itself in favor of and emphasizing women participation—a strategy Dougnac dubbed “positive segregation”– so that 70% of the Programme’s farmers are female.  Since 2008 75% of women in the district households held leadership positions in the Programme.     MLBP provides training in group dynamics and leadership, which has increased the majority participation of women in decision-making positions in the groups supported by the programme, in addition to forming women farmer’s district structures in Salima and Mangochi.

“The effects of activism have been extraordinary,” Marcello Dougnac says, as Blandina, the woman in charge of the Salima Tembwe office, agrees.  With added power and responsibility, women are taking charge of their finances and bettering their households with extra income—and arguing and speaking out with their male counterparts during meetings.

Technology

One problem facing the Lake districts of Malawi is general deforestation.   MLBP has introduced eco-brick making machines that form strong interlocking bricks without burning and  which require very little concrete.  The Programme distributes the machines and provides training, for example to eight youth groups in the Salima and Mangochi districts.  Fruit and vegetable solar dryers are used for drying locally grown fruits and vegetables (such as mangoes and leafy vegetables), allowing for  storage in the non-growing seasons.  In addition the Programme funds the distribution of small oil extractors for gathering oils from crops such as sunflowers, which can be locally grown on a wide scale to multiply household income.

Group Savings and Loans

As of December 2008, 101 groups for savings and loans had been established in Salima and Mangochi.  The groups have involved 2,525 households and have aided 17,675 persons, 75% of whom are women, with a total of USD 10,600.  The long-term plan is to further develop the savings groups into savings and credit cooperative organizations (SACCOS).  The farmers use the savings to acquire farm inputs in addition to meet domestic needs throughout the year.

Malawian-run, Scandinavian Funded

The Swedish Cooperative Centre works in 48 countries in Asia, eastern Europe, Africa, and Latin America.  The SCC believes  that developing countries need  to work with other countries, and that the developed world can use their resources to help the developing sector.

MLBP took two years to plan—before the SCC funds any venture, the community organization or program is required to make a business plan detailing the project and how it will be sustainable; the SCC will not invest in any activity without this initial planning. 

The Programme, however, is very much Malawian; SCC is a neutral organization that oversees the funding.  The Programme Consortium is comprised of five organizations: MUSCCO (Malawi Union of Savings and Credit Cooperatives), FUM, NASFAM, SCC and Vi Agroforestry.  Each organization is allowed one vote.  The Programme itself is the responsibility of management; the team is Malawian (excluding Dougnac).  Furthermore, before MLBP will fund activities in a community, it is up to the local people to first take the initiative and plan what they want to accomplish and to begin the venture.

Study Circles and the Ripple Effect

One aspect of MLBP that supports the communities is the training and study circles implemented.  Study circles are an old method that began in Scandinavia after the first world war, when people met to discuss post-war issues, and today is one of the most widely used ways to acquire knowledge.  In south and eastern Africa, the SCC translated study materials originally produced in English into Chichewa, one of the main languages of Malawi, and are beginning to translate them into Tumbuka (regional northern Malawian language).  The effects are increased literacy and problem solving as communities meet to discuss relevant issues and how to solve them.   The number of Malawi Lake Basin Programme participants in study groups are 83 in Salima and 78 in Mangochi; throughout the nation, they are 3,243 (*as of  July 2009).

Study Circles in Salima and Mangochi have then implemented community-based centres to support orphaned children and have established vegetable gardens to support the elderly and widows. MLBP provides start-up inputs to fund these endeavors.   In turn, Study Circles contribute towards savings mobilization for the SACCO movement and initiate new activities and programs to generate income for their districts.  Slowly they are supporting the disenfranchised in their communities with added income.  Through initial funding and support, MLBP provides the finances and means for communities to slowly take over and create their own projects to alleviate poverty.

Other Projects

MLBP recognizes that not all projects have produced success; for example, contract farming was begun in 2008 with mixed results.  MLBP had supported contracts between private buyers and farmer groups; however, the private entrepreneurs were “unable to fulfill their responsibility and abandoned farmers without explanation”(Annual Report).

(Micro)Lending a Hand in Rural Malawi

 

Microlending is a fairly recent practice in Malawi, and some aid organizations are beginning to use loans as a different form of financial assistance in place of donations.

On Tuesday June 16 I met with Jack Kazembe, the Regional Manager of the Mzuzu office of the MicroLoan Foundation, and traveled to the rural villages around the area to meet with two women’s groups receiving loans. 

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The MicroLoan Foundation is a London-based organization that provides a different type of international aid.  Founded in 2002, the organization supplies loans to women groups in Zambia and the Philippines in addition to Malawi, where the Foundation has fifteen offices.

Their unofficial motto is: “A hand up, not a hand out”.

Outside Mzuzu, in the rural area known as Simonirenda, Jenifer Manda cares for her own two children as well as six orphans.  Her situation is not uncommon; many other Malawian women struggle to make ends meet to feed their families and additional mouths.  

Manda is able to earn money by selling masamba, or vegetables.    Manda along with fourteen other women in her village applied for a group microloan to fund their respective business ventures.

The first loans a group receives are standard loans—between 3,000 and 45,000 Malawian kwacha (about 20 to 300 USD).  The loans are paid back over a period of sixteen weeks.   The groups may choose to obtain additional loans after paying back their first.  After three cycles of the lending and with business growing, the women may wish for a bridging loan (commercial loan)—ranging from 55,000 to 150,000 MK.

While most microfinance institutions charge upwards from 30 percent interest rates to 40 percent, MicroLoan Foundation interest rates are comparatively low at 24 percent for the first cycle and twenty percent for subsequent loans.

The foundation offers loans to those living mainly in the rural areas outside Mzuzu and other parts of Malawi–people who otherwise usually cannot obtain loans.  There are other microfinance institutions in Mzuzu, such as Finance International Community Assistance (FINCA), as well as Opportunity International and the Bank of Malawi. However, these organizations mostly operate in urban areas.

It is often difficult to obtain loans in northern Malawi, as banks are somewhat discriminatory towards the poor. Often receiving loans, or even simply opening a service account, may require an affidavit from a lawyer, or it may be necessary to own real estate to qualify for loans.  Most poor women do not have these.

But they do have ideas. And with some requiring just twenty dollars to start their businesses, borrowing a loan can enable their ideas to become reality and take off the ground.

Representatives from the MicroLoan Foundation go out into the rural communities, meeting with the village heads, or Traditional Authorities, to explain the program.  From there it is the women’s choice to form a group.

The Kaviwale Group of fourteen members is meeting today in the Simonirenda village for the first time since receiving their loan on May 12 of this year.   Prior to the first meeting the women received two weeks of business by the MicroLoan Foundation, educating them on profitability, interpersonal skills, sample marketing skills, and running a business. After saying a prayer, Chairlady Cindy Kansisha gives the opening remarks to the group.  Next the secretary reads the group constitution, which was created by the women to include their own laws. They will read the constitution before each meeting.

 Blessings Boya, the Loan Officer for the MicroLoan Foundation who is present at all group meetings, explains how the women will record their earnings each week in the record-keeping books provided. The women register as a group, writing the loans they are borrowing, the type of business they are running, and which portion of their loan they are paying back today.   Each woman is given a booklet of her own and is helped to determine how to pay back the loan in increments, how much she has paid already, and her current balance. In addition the women are encouraged by the foundation to save a portion of their earnings each week, instead of paying back the loan sooner, in order to sustain their businesses in the future.

Together the group has taken a loan of 126,000 Malawian Kwacha (MK).  Some women are selling tomatoes and vegetables, while others are making a business in second-hand clothing. 

At 10 a.m. the Chikolesyano Group is having their bi-monthly meeting.  Comprised of fifteen members, the group is in their third cycle of lending from the MicroLoan Foundation.  Together they have a loan of 150,000 MK, which they have used to start up and expand their respective businesses selling vegetables, doughnuts, bananas, tomatoes, and fish.  Several children sit on the laps of their mothers and aunts as the women record their weekly earnings and payments and sign their names in their own booklets and the Foundation copy as well.

Dolika Nyiverda has borrowed 5000 MK (around 30 dollars) to fund her maize-selling enterprise, while Styline Lapunga sells bananas to provide for her three dependents and two orphans.   In addition to charting business growth, the Foundation keeps a record of the number of dependents and orphans the women are maintaining.

The designated treasurer for the group collects the money. The MicroLoan Foundation does not directly take money as payment, however, so one of the group members must go to the bank for a deposit slip to give to the Foundation.  The women are instructed to sign as to which one deposits the group earnings in the bank so the person is held accountable.

Microlending may be one of many new solutions to the dilemma of using aid effectively.  Some donors may prefer to support microfinance organizations that help vulnerable Malawians such as women, widows, and orphans by providing training and lending money to help them grow sustainable businesses and futures.  And perhaps, little by little, this approach is working.

Alleviating poverty through a cup of coffee

 

MZUZU- Malawi

Mzuzu coffee is well-known in Malawi.  Voted the number one coffee in Malawi in 2005, it was soon considered one of the top five coffees in Africa. In almost any Malawian hotel and store one can purchase flavorful Mzuzu coffee.  I had my own customary cup as I visited the headquarters of the Mzuzu Coffee Planters Cooperative Union on June 8 to meet with Operations Director Bernard Kaonda.

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Bernard Kaonda has been working for the Mzuzu Coffee Planters Cooperative Union for eleven years.   “The first few years were very difficult,” Kaonda said, referring to the years directly after the government wanted out and handed over the Coffee Smallholder Authority and crashing coffee industry to the farmers in a transitional arrangement. 

Soon Malawi saw a turnaround in the industry.  The European Union assisted with initial money the first two years to mobilize and train farmers to run the organizations.  With farmers controlling the management and with changes in processing, the failing industry became more accountable and achieved success. In 2006 the former Authority registered as a cooperative and was completely taken over by smallholder farmers, who are ensured fair prices for their Fair Trade certified coffee.  Today the union is comprised of over 4,000 smallholder farmers from the districts of Chitipa, Rumphi, Nkata Bay, and Mzimba.  The farmers receive 60 percent of the market price for their products.  Coffee inputs have increased in the past few years, and each cooperative has its own microcredit fund.

Mzuzu coffee is doing well internationally, too.  The MCPCU joined the East African Fine Coffees Association (EAFCA),   cutting out middlemen, meeting and becoming familiar with buyers, and developing business confidence.  A project analysis to determine the market for Mzuzu coffee outside Africa found that Germany and the United States purchased a significant amount.  With effective marketing the cooperative sells to countries worldwide. The main portion of the more than 200 tons exported each year are bought by Germany and South Africa and lesser amounts by the United States, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Japan.

Although the project has operated on its own in recent years, the European Union as well as USAID and other organizations are assisting financially once again to promote a particular program: crop diversification. Because of the inconsistency in the price of coffee, Malawi farmers are not cushioned against international market prices; therefore it is necessary for farmers to protect themselves through the production of other crops.  Now Mzuzu coffee farmers are turning to beekeeping and wheat growing to supplement their coffee production.  The total income of the farmers is increasing and is spread out over the year. Wheat is harvested from May to October, and honey from May to June, so farmers do not have to sweat out the months on little income until reaping traditional coffee profits in December.

The union faces some challenge with regards to international market demand. MCPCP is expecting 545 metric tons of coffee, but over 250 tons have already been bought; the demand is too high to be met. Infrastructure proves tricky and the cost of transportation is high–the price of a product in Malawi is about 40% in transit costs—as roads, especially in the Misuku area, are bad.  The government currently is working to maintain major roadways, although the smaller roads in the coffee districts are in poor condition.  In addition, cooperatives are a relatively new phenomenon in Malawi and in need of capacity building.   Despite any handicaps, however, the Mzuzu coffee industry is blooming and gaining a global reputation, while locally increasing food security and empowering smallholder farmers.

Em(solar)powering a Community: the Sunny Side of Mzuzu

Fiskani Msutu, Regional Manager

The earth receives more energy from the sun in merely one hour than the world uses in an entire year.

                That’s a lot of energy!

                Climate change is a major problem impacting the world, from the wealthiest nations to the poorest.  Global poverty is also an important issue facing the international community today.  One organization works to combat both with a simple strategy:  creating solar panels to provide electricity to the poorest of communities.

                SolarAid operates in many countries, mainly those in sub-Saharan Africa.  The majority of people who have access to electricity in these areas burn fossil fuels, especially kerosene, which is extremely harmful to individual health and damaging to the environment.  Economically, the average home in a developing country uses 10-20% of its income on kerosene for lighting and charging radio and mobile phone batteries (SolarAid); a market study conducted by SolarAid in Mzuzu found that 2.2 liters of kerosene were used per month in each household.  SolarAid seeks to reduce dependence upon kerosene in northern Malawi and to provide electricity to those without it, as well as to provide business for the local economy. 

                In Mzuzu, nearly 20% of the population is infected with HIV. SolarAid empowers HIV-affected people by hiring and training them to produce and assemble the solar panels.  Widows who have lost husbands to HIV/AIDS are also employed and trained.  The micro solar panels are produced by HIV-affected persons from nearby Nkata Bay and Tchipita, as well as in Mzuzu, and are then sold at an affordable cost to the local population.  One micro solar panel (four volts) can power radios and charge mobile phones, and some people have even started their own businesses charging others to use their panels. Microsolar lightbulbs have made it possible to light areas so people do not have to walk as far to have access to electricity. And with rechargeable batteries—absorbing free energy from the sun—the possibilities are endless.

 As of June 2009, over 950 microsolar panels have been sold to impoverished Malawians in the northern region, and over 1,000 light bulbs have been purchased. More than 1,967 panels have been assembled.

Fiskani Msutu is the program manager for SolarAid in Mzuzu.  Together with others he is working to train Malawians in running the businesses so the program will be operated entirely by the northern communities.  Creating a solar industry in northern Malawi has brought business to the local economy and has also made the company more accountable for its products, he says; the organization is able to guarantee the solar battery for one year and it can be repaired locally.  There is some difficulty in hiring only those with HIV/AIDS:  because HIV is a stigma in Malawi, people are not always open enough about having the virus, so it is a challenge to employ only them.  Still, for those who are employed, SolarAid is a means of giving them support and employment to provide for their needs and their families.  Through creatively combining solar energy with local production to overcome poverty while uplifting women and those with HIV,  SolarAid provides power to the people in a way that is economically and environmentally sustainable.

Major sponsors include the UK organizations Traid and the Microloan Foundation, which provides microloans to women receiving training for SolarAid as well as for other businesses.

Revolutionizing education in Malawi: the BeeHive School

Teacher James Chinula reading with his Standard 6 class

3 June 2009

It is eight o’clock on a Wednesday morning as students from the BeeHive School in Mzuzu, Malawi begin another day of learning.  Standard 6 is continuing their unit on fables with Aesop’s “The Fox and the Sick Lion”, and the students take turns reading the story to each other as their teacher asks probing questions to ascertain the motives of the characters.  And now comes the fun part.

“You are going to practice being filmmakers,” teacher James Chinula says to the class, instructing them to draw the tale chronologically in nine parts on paper as if a strip of film. He explains it is up to them to determine how they wish to interpret the story in their illustrations, and announces that the best pictures will be displayed.  The students take out paper and pencils and excitedly begin coloring.

In 1994, public primary schools in Malawi stopped charging fees and enrollment soared. Currently 86 percent of children attend primary school.  With the surge, however, the education system was unprepared to accommodate so many students.  Classrooms are overcrowded, and a shortage of sports and play areas and lack of learning material contribute to the high dropout rate.  Only 26 percent of children finish the entire primary cycle (UNICEF).

 In Mzuzu, the third largest city in Malawi, there are around seventy to one hundred students per classroom in primary schools.  Niall Dorey of York, UK, was a teacher in a public school in Mzuzu and found that the conditions were not conducive to learning.  Not only were the class sizes too large, but the blackboard dictation methods did not teach students how to analyze and think creatively. Today eighty percent of students in Malawi do not meet the minimal requirements for reading and mathematics.

To combat these issues, Dorey decided to found his own school in 2003.  Starting humbly with just eight students, the school now serves nearly 200.  BeeHive follows UK/U.S. lines of education, with classes taught entirely in English, and was recently accepted as an international school.

The school is unique to many schools in Malawi because of its holistic approach to education, encouraging social, moral, and physical development in addition to its emphasis on literacy, science, and mathematics.  The curriculum fosters creativity as students paint, draw, perform, and practice creative writing. In addition students have organized sports days and are taken on fieldtrips to visit local industries and natural scenery.

It is 9:00 and Standard 5 has an English lesson by Dorey. Dorey has the twenty-six students of his classroom separated into groups, with the desks forming octagonal tables. Previously the class groups had taken turns writing chapters for their own storybook.   Now it is time to complete the book. Each student writes a summary blurb for their book’s back cover; one group of students sort through the suggestions and choose the best two, as two other groups are charged with drafting front covers, and the remaining group, the back cover. At the end of the lesson the students vote on the different parts of their book.  Dorey reads the two summary choices, chosen by the groups, and the entire class votes and subsequently cheers as the winner is announced.

The students seem to relish every minute of the lesson.  The institution works to stimulate the students’ minds, social skills, and creativity, and fosters teamwork and student collaboration.   Since BeeHive’s opening, a few students have graduated and continued their education in very good secondary schools.  The BeeHive School is most definitely a school in Malawi where education is flourishing—and fun.

International Food Programs: Good for short term, disastrous in the long run?

29 May 2009

In Lilongwe I visited the offices of the World Food Programme (WFP) and  United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and met with Victor Chinyama of UNICEF.

The government of Malawi receives a great amount of funding for development programs (and with 65% of the annual budget financed by donors), and many international organizations are active in the country in providing aid to the people.  With respect to the key players in the field of international aid, such as UNICEF and the World Food Programme, giving direct aid through the distribution of food may actually be doing more harm than good in the long run.

Good intentions, wrong solution

Poverty in Malawi has resulted in nutrient deficiency and malnutrition, with 21 percent of children under five who are underweight and malnutrition responsible for about half of all child deaths (UNICEF).  International organizations such as UNICEF attempt to remedy this problem through their various feeding programs, particularly in rural areas where poverty is felt the most.  UNICEF nutrition rehabilitation units provide supplementary feeding to children whose families cannot afford to provide enough food.  When the country was hit hard with the food crisis in 2005 the World Food Programme and UNICEF provided therapeutic feeding to 1,000 severely undernourished children each month, while around 42,000 moderately malnourished pregnant women and  92,000 moderately malnourished children were given supplementary feeding.  The programs continue to provide food today.

Accountability is often a challenge with the major international aid organizations, and UNICEF is no exception.    Often it is difficult to ensure that aid ends up in the hands of the people who need it the most and not in the hands of those making a profit off it.  On a personal note, I was in a People’s market store in Mzuzu and I came across emergency oral rehydration salts for children in a carton printed with the USAID emblems (“From the American People”), expiration date February 2011, with instructions in Chichewa and English on how to administer them to children.  The packets were being sold individually in the store for about 100 kwacha, though of course there was no resale price printed on its cover.  One can only wonder how the aid is resold to end up in a grocery store rather than given directly to the neediest recipients for which it was originally intended, which is how many people assume aid works.

Besides accountability issues, though, the main problem with this type of aid is the fundamental concept of it.  While programs under UNICEF and the WFP are great for providing emergency relief, continuously giving food is merely a short-term solution that does nothing to prevent future cases of malnutrition.  Organizations that aim to eradicate malnutrition in Malawi must look at its root causes—poverty, food insecurity—and seek to address them rather than slapping a bandage over the wound.  Programs that give food do nothing to help the families pull themselves out of poverty, which means in the future they still will not be able to provide for the children.  Rather than channeling funds to programs that would enable the people to be self-sufficient (and thus have the ability to nourish their families), people instead are kept in a cycle of dependency upon organizations such as UNICEF for food.

In this way, aid is a crutch, and a government and people relying on donors become dependent on funding with few long-term solutions in sight.  In order to defeat hunger, people need the tools and resources to make a livelihood.  UNICEF’s and WFP’s school feeding program is a sort of compromise, as it provides meals for children attending school and encourages them to get an education.  (However, whether the education system prepares the students adequately is another major problem in Malawi.)  UNICEF’s best bets for aid seem to be their immunization and vaccination programs for long-term prevention of diseases, assistance in prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, as well as their community child-care centres that empower street children and HIV orphans.  In the meantime, the funds of international aid organizations used for short-term food programs may better serve the country through encouraging small business development, efficient farming practices and fair prices for goods, and training and education, rather than food handouts. These are solutions that come with dignity for people who wish to make a decent living rather than forcing them into acceptance and dependability on others to give to their families what they are unable to provide. In these ways aid organizations can help people out of generational poverty rather than keeping them in it.

Beyond Good Intentions in Malawi; introducing ActionAid

Mwasewela bwanji and greetings from Malawi!  As a 2009 Fellow for Beyond Good Intentions I am traveling around the country to conduct field-based research on the effectiveness of aid organizations and to explore innovative strategies.  While I believe in the importance of international aid, I also believe in the responsibility of donor communities in evaluating the organizations to which their funds are channeled to ensure that the right people are receiving the aid, and to make sure that the aid is used effectively to promote long-term solutions to poverty alleviation.  My first week I met with Zilani Khonje of ActionAid in their Lilongwe office to investigate their work in Malawi.

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25 May 2009

Country background:

Malawi, considered “the warm heart of Africa”, is a country with a population of 11.9 million and one of the poorest countries in the world.  The life expectancy is 38 years, low from malnutrition, disease, and HIV/AIDS.  Malawi is an agricultural society and is heavily dependent upon maize as a staple crop.  The main food Malawians eat is nsima, a porridge made from maize. Very few families can afford not to take nsima every day.  Natural disasters such as floods (at least five in the past twenty years) have resulted in food crises, and malnutrition is rampant.  Forty-two percent of children in Malawi are stunted.  In addition to food insecurity, Malawians are kept in poverty from diseases (such as malaria and tuberculosis), which are made even deadlier for those infected with the HIV/AIDS virus—fourteen percent of the population.  Those who are ill from HIV are often unable to work to full capacity and may miss important days of planting, resulting in fewer crops to harvest and less money and food.  In addition, persons, especially women and girls, are taken from work in the fields and from school to care for sick family members.  In order to pay for treatment and food, some people develop coping mechanisms; for example, women and girls may engage in transactional sex as a source of income, placing them at risk of sexual exploitation as well as making them vulnerable to AIDS and other diseases.  Lack of education is a serious problem in Malawi, especially for girls, and more than 38 percent of the population are illiterate (UNICEF).  All these combine to continue the cycle of poverty that plagues the country.

 

ActionAid: The Rights-Based Approach

ActionAid is an anti-poverty organization that operates in many nations across the world and has been active in Malawi since 1990.  The five main issues the organization addresses are women’s rights, democratic governance, education, food security, and HIV/AIDS; in Malawi, there is a special emphasis on women’s rights and education.  ActionAid partners with governmental programs, other aid organizations, and especially local communities to address these needs and to work to alleviate poverty.

One difference in ActionAid’s methods compared to other large-scale international aid organizations is that ActionAid uses a rights-based approach to address the root causes of poverty in Malawi, rather than simply providing aid for short-term solutions.  Instead of distributing food on a large-scale basis, ActionAid works with farmer’s cooperatives and unions and aids crop diversification programs to promote food security.  Other initiatives, especially those proposed by the local people, promote gender equality, education, health, and small business growth.  Perhaps ActionAid’s greatest strength is in its partnering with local communities and organizations.

Under ActionAid’s Right to Food Theme, the organization aided partners LANDNET, the Farmers Union, and the Coalition of Women Farmers.  Under the HungerFREE Campaign women have begun to engage with traditional leaders to demand their portions of land. In Chitipa, especially, chiefs have responded by giving land to women farmers.

ActionAid’s strategies include mobilizing women farmers and gaining access over land for them, providing technical support for increased food production and better nutrition, and, at the local level, working with farmer’s associations and cooperatives in supporting food diversification and opportunities for markets.    In Mwanza, ActionAid provided support for the establishment of an Irrigation and Grain Legume Association and cooperative; these have benefited the district population by making agricultural marketing easier.  The associations are able to identify markets and negotiate better prices for members, giving smallholder farmers a fair share of the market. These associations in other districts, such as in Khosolo, maximize profits for farmers by cutting out the middlemen and saving on transportation costs. The farmer’s associations are then able to open an input shop.

In Salima, there are 2,000 poor households that are run by women.  In this district, ActionAid supported a revolving credit scheme run by a farmer’s association that provided farm input to 180 men and women living with HIV.  Through grain banks, also managed by the farmer’s association, 35 metric tons of maize were distributed on credit to nearly 500 poor households that had run out of food so that the people will have food until the next harvest.

Because food security is hurt by cyclical disasters in Malawi, such as floods, ActionAid has supported methods to protect against natural disasters.  In 2007 the organization conducted a Participatory Vulnerability Analysis (PVA) in Nsanje to allow communities to identify their vulnerability and plan what they can do with their own resources, as well as what other stakeholders such as NGOs, and the government, can do to supplement their efforts.

One method of ActionAid that separates it from some other international aid organizations is its focus on mobilizing the local people to recognize their rights, identify their own problems, and to propose and implement their own solutions.  This is in keeping with ActionAid’s rights-based approach. For example, the youth of a community decided that not enough girls were enrolled in school; because the schools were far apart, the girls did not attend as frequently, and therefore did not receive an education.  The girls of the area took the initiative to propose a solution: building a new local school, of which 75 percent of the pupils would be girls.  In Mwanza, women demanded access to safe water, and were supported by ActionAid in launching their own water projects.  The women were given funds to complete three gravity water projects, which have benefited almost 1,000 households from three surrounding villages. In Phalombe, women were forced to walk long distances to have access to safe water, and so the village women came together and formed a proposal. Their initiative started the Water Project, which was soon after handed over by ActionAid to the community.

Because poverty is exacerbated by gender inequality and vice versa (gender relations suffer under poverty), ActionAid is working to empower women.  The organization has continuously provided training to educate women about their rights and responsibilities.  Attracting 60 participants at both the regional and district level, women were able to claim rights in their own communities; for example, in Chiradzulu district, in south Malawi, women were successful in lobbying the traditional Authorities for land for the building of Model Community Based Outreach Centres.  In 2007 ActionAid trained 140 women from Salima and Lilongwe Peri-urban districts in business management.  The number of women participating in the program in 2007 reached 300 from just 50 the year before.  Members bought livestock (such as goats, pigs, and chickens), while others were able to get capital for small-scale businesses.  Because of these economic gains, women are able to pay school fees for children, build houses, and buy farm inputs such as fertilizers and seeds. 

ActionAid supports a number of local Girls Clubs throughout Malawi that provide a space where female youth encourage each other to remain in school and discuss issues related to sexuality and HIV. The clubs also enable girls to speak out on issues and problems affecting them and to find solutions, especially with regards to violence against girls in schools. ActionAid also supports mother groups that work to bring girls back to school and are trained to monitor girls’ school performance and teacher-student relations.  Mother groups in Nsanje were able to bring 186 girls back to school in a year.  Within ActionAid’s impact area, girl enrollment in schools has increased at an average of 45.5 percent.  With regards to education, the organization has also aided in adult literacy classes, building classrooms, and training teachers.

HIV affects so many of the population in Malawi, and so ActionAid has made it a priority to focus on its education, prevention, and health.  In addition, across the country the organization has many support groups that work to empower those affected by the virus.  In Salima, ActionAid worked with five support groups in the establishment of herbal gardens and small scale livestock production for those with HIV.  In this way the community members with HIV are able to provide for their families, food, and treatment with dignity. Malomo Community AIDS Team has been running income-generating activities such as soap making and raising pigs, and its members distribute small loans to each other for small-scale personal business.

ActionAid seems to be a major international organization that works not to achieve temporary solutions to poverty but to address its fundamental causes.  As with most larger aid organizations, ActionAid needs to work to ensure accountability, to increase efficiency, and also to make sure its program workers better understand the rights-based approach. However, through its support of women’s empowerment, promoting food stability and crop diversification, aiding small businesses, providing assistance to those with HIV to form projects to provide for themselves, and uplifting girls in education, ActionAid is truly making some impact at the local and national levels, one community at a time.