Malawi
Southern African Nutrition Initiative (SANI): Baseline Household Evaluation — Malawi
CARE is currently implementing the South Africa Nutrition Initiative (SANI) project in Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia. The goal of SANI is to improve the nutritional status of women of reproductive age and boys and girls under 5 years. This baseline study was conducted to obtain baseline values for the key SANI intervention areas in Dowa and Ntchisi Districts of Malawi. Eleven (11) key PMF indicators were able to be measured in order to set-up baseline values and establish achievable life of project targets for SANI in Malawi. (78 pages) Read More...
Creating spaces for dialogue: a cluster-randomized evaluation of CARE’s Community Score Card on health governance outcomes
Social accountability interventions such as CARE’s Community Score Card© show promise for improving sexual, reproductive, and maternal health outcomes. A key component of the intervention is creation of spaces where community members, healthcare workers, and district officials can safely interact and collaborate to improve health-related outcomes. Here, we evaluate the intervention’s effect on governance constructs such as power sharing and equity that are central to our theory of change. Read More...
Umodzi – Men, Women, Boys and Girls in Alliance to Achieve Gender Equality Final Narrative
Umodzi was a two-year action research project to test the effectiveness and scalability of a gender-synchronized, transformational approach that is integrated into existing school-based life skills (LS) and sexuality education programs for 10- to 19-year-old adolescent boys and girls. The purpose of Umodzi was to enhance the sustained empowerment of adolescent girls in rural communities in Central Malawi to exercise their sexual and reproductive health (SRH) rights and ultimately achieve better life outcomes. The project used a comparative study to demonstrate evidence-based impact and also used a proof-of-concept component to inform process in real time. [20 [pages] Read More...
Shelter Project Performance Report
Between May and December 2016 (phase I), CARE and UNHCR provided safe, durable shelter to 531 families (1,917 people of concern) who had fled conflict in Mozambique. After starting with a transitional model using tarpaulins and blue gum poles, CARE worked with local skilled and unskilled labourers to upgrade the transitional models or create new semi-permanent shelters with mud brick walls and roofing comprised of iron sheets. The project also established kitchen gardens to support the nutrition and provide limited income generation for interested households. [12 pages] Read More...
Increasing Mitigation Productivity and Adaptation through Climate-smart Techniques
This report covers the cumulative achievements of the Increasing Mitigation Productivity and Adaptation through Climate-smart Techniques (IMPACT) project, from August 2016 to 31st July 2017 from the three targeted districts of Mulanje, Nsanje and Phalombe. Activities under the Agriculture and Food Security Sector focused on two subsectors: Improving household food security and Irrigation. [23 pages] Read More...
Emergency cash transfers, nutrition and livelihood assistance for chronically food insecure households in Malawi (2016-17)
In May 2016, the Government of Malawi (GoM), assessed 6.5 million people out of total population of 16.8M (39 percent) would not be able to meet their annual food requirements during the 2016/17 consumption period. Additionally, over 1.8 million people were in need of agricultural inputs to restore their livelihoods. About 31 per cent of the cultivated land was affected by the drought, of which 13 per cent was severely affected. Poor nutrition and increased mortality rates were of particular concern in 24 out of a total of 28 districts. Approximately 975,000 children aged 6-23 months and pregnant and lactating women were particularly at risk of food insecurity and malnutrition and requiring nutritional treatment.
The high level of food insecurity was due to two consecutive years of below average production of all key agricultural crops. In 2014/15 Malawi had the worst growing season for seven years, and this was followed by the worst floods in history in January 2015 and then widespread prolonged dry spells. Malawi was then severely impacted by one of the strongest El Niño events in 35 years. This climactic phenomenon has brought below average rainfall in the central and southern regions, and higher than normal rainfall in the north of the country. In response the food insecurity, the President of Malawi declared a state of disaster on 12 April 2016.
In order to address the significant challenges posed by El Niño in Malawi, CARE proposed a comprehensive cash transfer, nutrition and livelihoods response to reduce the vulnerability crisis-affected people, especially women, girls and boys in Salima. The project focuses on three immediate outcomes. First, the project will improve capacity of at-risk populations to meet basic needs and reduce negative coping strategies through cash transfers. Second, the project will focus on improving the nutritional status of women and children through awareness raising, demonstrations of best practices related to food preparing and provision of kitchen garden inputs. Finally, the project will increase the self-reliance of at risk population through the provision of seeds and tools as well as training on post-distribution harvest and storage techniques. [19 pages]
Read More...
The high level of food insecurity was due to two consecutive years of below average production of all key agricultural crops. In 2014/15 Malawi had the worst growing season for seven years, and this was followed by the worst floods in history in January 2015 and then widespread prolonged dry spells. Malawi was then severely impacted by one of the strongest El Niño events in 35 years. This climactic phenomenon has brought below average rainfall in the central and southern regions, and higher than normal rainfall in the north of the country. In response the food insecurity, the President of Malawi declared a state of disaster on 12 April 2016.
In order to address the significant challenges posed by El Niño in Malawi, CARE proposed a comprehensive cash transfer, nutrition and livelihoods response to reduce the vulnerability crisis-affected people, especially women, girls and boys in Salima. The project focuses on three immediate outcomes. First, the project will improve capacity of at-risk populations to meet basic needs and reduce negative coping strategies through cash transfers. Second, the project will focus on improving the nutritional status of women and children through awareness raising, demonstrations of best practices related to food preparing and provision of kitchen garden inputs. Finally, the project will increase the self-reliance of at risk population through the provision of seeds and tools as well as training on post-distribution harvest and storage techniques. [19 pages]
Read More...
Vertical Expansion of Social Protection Program
For the last nine years, Malawi has been supporting on average 1.73 million people each year with emergency food assistance, i.e. about 10% of its population. With widespread chronic poverty and high vulnerabilities, even predictable, recurrent lean seasons and minor weather variations develop into emergencies. Humanitarian actors including UN agencies and NGOs, repeatedly step-in to cover needs.
Poor households are often some of the most vulnerable to disasters. Poor people are among the groups most exposed to and suffering from shocks, including drought or floods: Limited livelihood options, resources, and access to services, mean that these households are often the least able to withstand shocks, and therefore prone to food insecurity, especially without resorting to negative coping mechanisms.
New and more sustainable ways of preventing and addressing recurrent food crises have to be found. An international humanitarian system, which is under strain by ever longer lasting crises, affecting more people, cannot sustainably respond to needs that largely result from chronic poverty. It is designed to support countries overwhelmed by a shock, to save lives, alleviate suffering and maintain human dignity during and in the aftermath of disasters. It also aims at preventing and supporting preparedness for the occurrence of such situations, through Disaster Risk Reduction measures.[24 page case study] Read More...
Poor households are often some of the most vulnerable to disasters. Poor people are among the groups most exposed to and suffering from shocks, including drought or floods: Limited livelihood options, resources, and access to services, mean that these households are often the least able to withstand shocks, and therefore prone to food insecurity, especially without resorting to negative coping mechanisms.
New and more sustainable ways of preventing and addressing recurrent food crises have to be found. An international humanitarian system, which is under strain by ever longer lasting crises, affecting more people, cannot sustainably respond to needs that largely result from chronic poverty. It is designed to support countries overwhelmed by a shock, to save lives, alleviate suffering and maintain human dignity during and in the aftermath of disasters. It also aims at preventing and supporting preparedness for the occurrence of such situations, through Disaster Risk Reduction measures.[24 page case study] Read More...
Pathways- Global Baseline Report
CARE’s Pathways program focuses on improving poor women farmers’ productivity by empowering them to more fully engage in equitable agriculture systems. The program is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and implemented in Bangladesh, Ghana, India, Malawi, Mali, and Tanzania. Aligned with other CARE initiatives, such as CARE Australia’s WE-RISE program, Pathways is designed to overcome the constraints to women’s productive and equitable engagement in agriculture. Utilizing a strong gender focus, the program’s Theory of Change posits that marginalized, poor women farmers will be more productive, and their families more food secure when:
women have increased capacity (skills, knowledge, resources), capabilities (confidence, bargaining power, collective voice), and support
local governance and institutions have/implement gender-sensitive policies and programming that are responsive to the rights and needs of poor women farmers
agricultural service, value chain, and market environments of relevance to women are more competitive, gender-inclusive, and environmentally sustainable. [104 pages] Read More...
women have increased capacity (skills, knowledge, resources), capabilities (confidence, bargaining power, collective voice), and support
local governance and institutions have/implement gender-sensitive policies and programming that are responsive to the rights and needs of poor women farmers
agricultural service, value chain, and market environments of relevance to women are more competitive, gender-inclusive, and environmentally sustainable. [104 pages] Read More...
Umodzi – research on gender synchronized approaches to adolescent lifeskills
The aim of Umodzi Project was to test the effectiveness of adding gender conscious practice curriculum (GCP) and intergenerational dialogues on existing Auntie Stella life skills curriculum to accelerate and enhance adolescent life skills and sexual reproductive health programming. CARE Malawi contracted the CDM to implement the evaluation to compliment routine monitoring activities and establish the effectiveness of the gender synchronized approach. (169 pages) Read More...
Umodzi -using a gender synchronized approach to accelerate impact-midline
The Umodzi Project aims to test the effectiveness and scalability of a gender synchronized and transformational approach to accelerate and enhance the impact of integrated adolescent life skills and sexual reproductive health (SRH) programming. The Umodzi project relies on coordinating existing initiatives to achieve: 1) Adoption of gender-equitable attitudes and behaviours among adolescent boys and girls in primary school; 2) Improved health and development knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, and self-care practices among adolescent boys and girls in primary school; and, 3) Enhanced inter-generational relationships between men and boys and women and girls that are supportive of adolescent gender and SRHR. The Midterm Evaluation (MTE) of the project aimed to explore the effect of UMODZI gender conscious practice (GCP)) on gender conscious attitudes; and on further outcomes identified in coordination with the development of GCP curriculum and Theory of Change. (76 pages) Read More...