INTEGRATED PROGRAMME
This is a programme that has contributed to improving the living standards of vulnerable households across the four dioceses of the Anglican Church of Malawi (ACM): Northern Malawi, Lake Malawi, Upper Shire and Southern Malawi. USPG has been supporting this programme since 2015.
The key areas the programme focuses on are: girls’ education, livelihoods, environment and climate change, water, sanitation and hygiene. The programme is holistic and recognises that some issues that affect people are inter-related. With this in mind, it focuses on girls and young women in a multi-faceted way, starting with their education. To improve literacy amongst girls, it focuses on increasing school enrolment. At the same time, it works with community members and the girls’ parents to reduce early marriages and early pregnancies, and the rate at which girls drop out of school.
The programme is working to achieve increased household income and food security. The interventions focuses on equipping farming households with improved farming skills, equipping households with business skills and ensuring that vulnerable households have access to loans. The programme has established farmers’ groups to teach farmers to use new agricultural technologies to their benefit. It also ensures that households, churches and other institutions are knowledgeable about environment management. To achieve this, the programme has run community awareness meetings and campaigns promoting the use of environmentally friendly stoves and the planting of trees.
As the programme comes to an end, plans are being made to ensure that the young women and households that have been supported through its duration can sustain the initiatives it put in place. This will happen through refresher courses, mentoring and community exchange visits. Key activities for the target households include ensuring that they have diverse sources of income and food throughout the year.
