Food Security and Livelihoods improvement project

Republic of Malawi

Amount: € 131,407.00

Overview

OWACO is an NGO that works towards achieving food security for the most vulnerable women in Malawian society. The goal of the project was to ensure improved and sustainable livelihoods for female-headed households, specifically for females who suffer from HIV/AIDS. The project aimed to increase agricultural productivity, income generation and the nutritional status of 6000 households over a three-year period. The organisation operated within Chigaru village in Blantyre district and Nanseta village in the Thyolo district. The Orphans Widows AIDS Campaign Organisation, OWACO has founded African Entrepreneurs Council and Village Development Committee meetings in other districts in order to further expand their food security projects.

Key results

• OWACO empowered 202 women from Chigaru and Nanseta villages in Malawi with leadership skills and village extension, group dynamics and decentralization information. The empowered women now form part of local leadership structures and champion the rights of women in their respective constituencies.
• The project facilitated orientation training to 30 members of the Malawi Government Extension Services to ensure government support for the project. This training helped to align the goals of the project with already established projects within the districts. The Government Extension workers worked side-by-side with the women in the crops and assisted them with their own training. The government workers now have a direct line of communication to the women and households who need the most support from the government.
• 1500 women were empowered with agricultural skills, help them increase the crop yields on the lands they currently work.  As a result, crop rotation prevalence increased from 3 to 5 types of crops per household while the majority of the targeted households now have access to functional village seed banks.

Three farmers associations in Malawi were created to facilitate trading and to create an environment for female farmers to share knowledge and ideas. These associations communicate with surrounding farmers to facilitate trading of equipment and technology to improve their own production and agricultural methods. 6 extension packages were created as a method for female farmers to communicate and facilitate trade between the different tribal authorities. These initiatives improved food security among the beneficiaries of the project.