Oxfam's work in Malawi in depth

In Malawi, Oxfam's focus is on sustainable livelihoods, HIV and AIDS, health, climate change, gender equality, governance and humanitarian aid.

The context

Oxfam has been working in Malawi for over 20 years. Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world, with more than half of the population of 13 million living below the poverty line.

How is Oxfam helping?

Oxfam works with partners and allies to support communities in Malawi to overcome poverty and suffering.

The programme has evolved from one of capacity building -- developing local organisations and directly supporting community programmes -- to a partner-led programme that aims to empower poor people to demand their rights around key areas of livelihoods, governance, humanitarian assistance, HIV and AIDS, and gender equality.

Oxfam provides financial support to more than 15 partner organisations in the country. These organisations work with communities in the five districts of Balaka, Blantyre, Chiradzulu, Phalombe and Thyolo to improve long-term food and income security, mitigate the impact of HIV and AIDS, promote good governance, gender equality and the empowerment of women, and build the capacity of civil society organisations.

Oxfam's work is delivered through four main programmes:

Livelihood promotion and protection

The main aim of Oxfam’s work around this area is to ensure that poor people have food and income security, and mostly revolves around smallholder farmers.

Agriculture is an important sector in Malawi because it employs about 87% of the population and comprises 40% of the country’s gross domestic product. Such reliance on the sector means that pressure from climate change, the loss of labour due to HIV and AIDS, and weak policies pose a serious threat to people’s income and food security.

Work on livelihoods involves both operational interventions and policy influencing. Areas Oxfam focuses on include:

1. Promoting soil and water conservation
Oxfam is supporting technologies that reduce soil and water loss, and improve soil fertility. These include water harvesting, contour ridging, agro forestry, gully reclamation, raised footpaths, conservation farming and manure application.

2. Supporting farmers to improve production
Oxfam is supporting interventions that increase crop yields at a household level. These include providing better crop planting materials; training farmers on improved crop production methods, manure making and application; and advocating for a clear agricultural input subsidy.

3. Developing and promoting irrigation
Oxfam is promoting small-scale irrigation and carrying out training on techniques that increase productivity and resistance to natural disasters such as drought and floods. Some of the technologies promoted are gravity fed irrigation, treadle pumps and watering canes.

4. Promoting credit and savings
Oxfam is promoting credit and savings for small-scale businesses to increase smallholder income. Small grants are provided to groups of farmers, mainly women, and the interest is ploughed back into savings to support additional farmers.

5. Promoting livestock production
Oxfam is promoting livestock production to improve the nutrition and income of smallholder farmers. Livestock, mainly goats, are given to selected households, which will use their first young female goats to pay back the livestock committee. The committee in turn will identify new beneficiaries to receive these goats on a ‘pass-on’ basis.

6. Influencing policy and practice change
Oxfam is working with local civil society organisations to lobby for a clear and well-resourced agricultural input policy, the implementation of which will ensure long-term and sustainable interventions to ensure food security.

HIV and AIDS and access to basic social services

In Malawi about 12% of the population (over one million people) is HIV-positive and more than 650,000 children are orphaned by the disease. This has had a negative impact on all sectors of society, and will push many people into chronic poverty if not contained.

There is a lack of capacity in Malawi to deliver adequate health care services to those who need it as well as support to keep orphans in school. Oxfam is working with local NGOs to prevent the further spread of the disease and to improve the quality of life of those living with HIV by focusing on the following areas:

1. Improved access to prevention and treatment services
Oxfam is promoting and supporting youth services including HIV counselling and testing; behavioural change initiatives; peer education initiatives, and information on HIV and AIDS prevention and support services; as well as facilitating links between home-based care and antiretroviral treatment, and monitoring equitable access to such treatment.

2. Improved access to support services
Oxfam is working with both the government of Malawi and NGO partners to improve access to support services by promoting home-based care initiatives, community child-care centres, and support groups that promote positive living.

3. Improved access to education for orphans
Oxfam supports partners to lobby the government of Malawi to implement policies such as bursaries and the removal of fees to allow orphans to remain in school. Oxfam also directly assists orphans and vulnerable children by providing care for their siblings while they attend school, and supports them via safety nets and vocational training, reducing their burden to earn a living.

4. Promoting policy and practice change
Oxfam is working with local civil society organisations to lobby for an increase in the government’s budget allocation for health from eight per cent to a minimum 15%, and for an increase in the number of poor and vulnerable people able to access health services.

Oxfam is also implementing the Access to Medicines campaign to ensure that basic drugs are accessible and available, particularly in rural clinics. This is a big campaign led by one of the local partners and is linked to the Oxfam International essential services campaign.

Humanitarian preparedness and climate change

Malawi is prone to natural disasters such as drought and floods, which negatively affect food and income security. Vulnerable people living with HIV and AIDS, the young and the elderly are most affected by such disasters.

Oxfam is working with others to ensure people’s right to life and security by focusing on the following areas:

1. Strengthening resilience and preparedness in emergencies
Oxfam strengthens community resilience and institutional responsiveness to disasters by promoting measures that include training partners in food security assessments; supporting partners and communities to grow drought-resistant crops; and building the capacity of community development committees, partners and local leaders in emergency preparedness and response.

2. Responding to emergencies
Oxfam responds to emergencies that affect poor people in Malawi, and recently assisted more than 300 families displaced by a series of earthquakes that hit the northern district of Karonga in December 2009 and early January 2010. Oxfam and partners installed a water tank and taps at the Mwabulambo camp; assisted with the construction of toilet and bathing shelters; and provided soap, mosquito nets and buckets, as well as education on good hygiene practices.

3. Climate change
Oxfam has been holding a series of climate and poverty hearings in communities around Malawi to understand how climate change has affected the lives of poor people. Oxfam also produced a research paper entitled The Winds of Change: Climate Change, Poverty and the Environment in Malawi, which is a collection of people’s testimonies about how climate change has affected them.

4. Promoting policy and practice change
Oxfam’s work on climate change helped inform the government of Malawi’s position at the climate change negotiations in Copenhagen in December 2009.

Governance and accountability

The poor and vulnerable people in Malawi have limited opportunities to hold their representatives and assemblies accountable. As a result, many decisions that government makes are not in their best interests. Increasing the participation and influence of Malawi’s poor and vulnerable citizens is critical to ensuring that government priorities reflect people’s aspirations.

Oxfam is working with others to ensure people’s right to be heard by focusing on the following areas:

1. Increasing meaningful participation of citizens
Oxfam works with civil societies to advocate for the better functioning of local and district government structures, and to facilitate engagement of citizens in these structures by providing financial and technical support. The programme supports community dialogue initiatives such as radio listening clubs, public debates and interface meetings.

2. Improving government responsiveness and accountability
Oxfam supports civil society organisations both financially and technically to build their capacity to monitor the accountability of governance structures, and conduct policy research and budget tracking at the local and national level. Oxfam also builds the capacity of service providers and informs citizens about their rights.

3. Promoting policy and practice change
Oxfam is working with partners to ensure that more village action plans are being adopted and implemented by district assemblies, and that there is increased public access to district level budgets and expenditures.

Gender equality and women's empowerment

Gender inequalities restrict economic growth, exacerbate poverty and undermine Malawi’s democracy by denying women and girls full enjoyment of their human rights. Gender equity remains a challenge in Malawi, but there are opportunities for Oxfam to improve the position of women who are disadvantaged.

Oxfam is working with other to ensure people’s right to gender equality by focusing on the following areas:

1. Reducing gender-based violence
Oxfam supports the mobilisation of communities on issues of gender-based violence and campaigns for its eradication. We also build the capacity of service providers and communities, and support partners in advocating for the implementation of gender-focused government policies.

2. Improving women's participation in decision-making processes
Oxfam believes that by working at both a grassroots level and with NGOs and partners in Parliament, we can advance the issue of women’s participation in decision-making. We focus on promoting women’s participation in community and household decision-making processes, developing women leaders at community level, and supporting the building of a national women’s movement.

3. Reducing women's and adolescent girls' vulnerability to HIV and AIDS
Oxfam aims to reduce women and girls’ vulnerability to HIV and AIDS by national level engagement on the issue; community-based campaigns on the reduction of harmful cultural and traditional practices that fuel HIV transmission, community-based dialogues on gender, sex and sexuality; and enabling women and adolescent girls to use safe-sex practices.

4. Promoting policy and practice change
Oxfam is working with partners to Influence the implementation of domestic violence laws and lobby for a national action plan for their implementation. We are also working with civil society organisations to influence the enactment of the Wills and Inheritance and Protection Bill and monitor the implementation of the AU Women’s Protocol.

 

Last updated: September 2010