Our Work
Villages in Partnership, believes that the key to helping our friends to make a real and lasting difference in their circumstances is to have a long-term partnership. Through that partnership, we undertake sustained development designed to address the multi-faceted and inter-connected root causes for the extreme poverty that they face. To use but one example, as important as education is, simply building schools will not facilitate change if kids are too ill or malnourished to attend school, or if they have to work to survive and don’t have time or can’t afford to go school. Accordingly, we seek to implement broad-ranging area development projects which address the wide array of issues our friends face.
We also believe that another key element to success is to developing a true partnership in which we are working in close cooperation with our friends to identify and prioritize their most pressing needs, and then involve them in the solution, with each of us contributing our energies and resources as we are able. Our friends are not interested in receiving, and we’re not interested in giving them, a mere hand-out. But, working together, hand-in-hand, we can effect meaningful change.
With these core principles in mind, Villages in Partnership and our partners in Malawi are undertaking the following efforts.
Safe Water Projects:
The area of greatest need that our friends have identified is access to clean, safe water. Women in Malawi get up early in the morning and walk miles to wait in line to fill buckets with the water needed to cook, clean and drink for the day. They then have to carry the buckets back with them to their huts, a process that can take hours. This all assumes, of course, that they have access to clean water at all, which is not always the case.
After completing a survey to identify and prioritize the areas of greatest need, in 2009, we funded the construction of 2 new wells that are now bringing life-giving water to the villages of Staube and Nambadbada. In 2010, we will be constructing additional wells, as well as working to restore several existing wells that have become non-functional.
To watch a video about the importance of access to clean water, click here.
Food Security Projects:
Another critical issue that our friends face is food security. If the rains are good, they can grow enough food to survive the year, but they are at the whim of nature, and constantly at risk of running out of food if too much or too little rain causes them to have a poor harvest. In addition, their diet consists almost entirely of maize (corn) and is therefore lacking in protein and other essential nutrients.
Agriculture Improvement Programs:
In 2009, we implemented irrigation projects that allow community members to grow vegetables and maize during the dry season, provided training in advanced agricultural techniques, and distributed improved high-yield maize and groundnut seeds to vulnerable households. These programs are designed to enhance crop yields, provide dietary diversity, and help insulate our friends from the vagaries the weather. We will be continuing and expanding these programs in the coming year.
Livestock and Fish Production Programs:
In 2009, we purchased and distributed 100 goats and other livestock to vulnerable households throughout Sakata, and also funded livestock support programs, such as providing veterinary drugs, the construction of pens/housing for the livestock, and training on the proper care and feeding of the livestock. In 2010, we will be expanding this program to additional vulnerable households. We will also plan to fund the construction and stocking of fish ponds that will provide another independent, renewable source of food. These programs help provide not only a much-needed source of protein and dietary diversity, but also provide a means for enhancing household income.
Community Construction and Development Projects:
We support a variety community construction and other infrastructure development projects. This past year, we built a preschool and community center in the village of Kalupe that services the entire community, and we repaired a badly damaged bridge that acts as a central artery connecting the villages. Additional construction projects are being planned for the coming year, including construction of a new primary school, and construction of a bridge that will span a river that bisects the community during the rainy season.
Community Health and Development Projects:
We support a variety of health and community development projects. The building in Kalupe serves not only as a preschool, but also as a center for monitoring the growth and health of children under five years old, for youth programs that promote life skills and HIV/AIDS prevention, and for the distribution of hundreds of mosquito nets to help fight the spread of malaria. These developments have lead to other grassroots efforts to expand these types of programs to additional communities. In 2010, we will continue to expand these programs to provide additional services and training.
Environmental Management Programs:
Most Malawians cook their food over open wood fires. As a result, deforestation and the environmental havoc it wreaks have become significant problems in Malawi. Accordingly, we have begun tree management training, started a nursery for the planting of tree seeds and seedlings, and will be implementing other environmental management programs.
Capacity Building for Community Members:
We support programs designed to empower out partners to help one another and further the work we are doing in other areas, including training for Area Development Committees and Village Chiefs, as well as the formation and training of Village Development Committees.