Telling the ECSA Story

Participants now have stable running water they are using to irrigate their gardens. © Titukulane RFSA 2023/Samuel Chibaya Although Cyclone Freddy severely battered much of Zomba, lives and property were saved, thanks to the adoption of watershed protection practices. Led by Lifa Village Natural Resource Management Committee (VNMRC), over 3,000 households protected their watershed with water and soil conservation structures such as swales, check dams, eyebrows, deep trenches, and stone bunds before the devastating rainy season. Evelyn Mwada, secretary for Lifa Watershed in Zomba, recounted the effectiveness of the protection measures: "When the stormy winds and torrential rains came, many of the structures stood strong. Out of 3,000 check dams, only 168 were damaged; out of 1,050 swales, 700 were damaged; out of 500 cubic meters of stone bunds, 100 were damaged, and there was no damage on the 1,000 cubic meters of deep trenches. Titukulane has trained us on how to protect our area...

  Zambia. CARE As the conflict in Ukraine continues, the shock waves are being felt all the way in Southern Africa which is still reeling from one of the worst cyclone seasons. From a shortage of relief supplies to hiked fuel costs, communities that were slowly recovering from the loss of livelihoods and floods now face another challenge as the cost of living increases. This has impacted response efforts and raises the worry of how the people will recover and resume normal living as things become more expensive. Hiked wheat and fuel costs are not only causing an increase in the cost of living but also putting the jobs of hundreds, in several sectors, at risk. In Zambia and Zimbabwe, where the economies were already fragile, fuel prices have increased by 13 percent and 7 percent respectively in Countries. On March 11th, Cyclone Gombe, a Category 3 storm struck Nampula province in Mozambique. So far, 61 fatalities have been recorded with over 450,000 people displaced. As humanitarian...

I n the month of April, CARE International began to accelerate the progress of drafting commitments under Action Coalition 2, by putting a roadmap of activities that need to be carried out in order to have the government and other relevant stakeholders make commitments to advance Economic Justice and Rights in Malawi. The month of May saw several interface meetings and field visits to get contributions from VSLAs, and possible collaborations to popularize  the Generation Equality Forum. Collaborations under GEF: CARE and UN Women held several meetings throughout the month to collaboratively organize the commitment-making process. UN Women’s approach to the GEF is focused on women’s leadership particularly women at the grassroots, Members of Parliament, and community leaders. Their team has so far worked with For Equality, the Ministry of Gender and Her Liberty. All organizations are determined to draft commitments under the sixth action coalition, Feminist Movements and Leaders...

As COVID-19 and its consequences continue to unfold, it is ever more clear that government leadership is the difference between life and death for millions of people around the world. CARE can do a lot—we’re reaching 6.9 million people directly, and more than 126 million people with access to information—but we can’t do it alone. So what are we doing to advocate for government leadership? How is CARE helping governments, from the local level to the highest reaches of global groups, build a better COVID-19 response? We’re advocating in 32 countries to shape a response that will work better for the people we serve. What are we contributing to? Governments are putting gender at the center of their response.  The  European  External Action Service is releasing a declaration on Gender, GBV, and sexual and reproductive health on behalf of the EU. The  UN  has been focusing on gender and GBV since the beginning of the pandemic. The government of  Eg...

In Ghana, they call them “market queens”—women traders who have the connections and influence to organize women, adjust market prices, and influence trading patterns in their area. Faced with government shutdowns in local markets to stop the spread of COVID19, these women found ways to organize social distancing and  keep the markets open so people could eat. By the end of 2020, the World Food Programme predicts that  265 million people will be facing starvation  because of COVID19. CARE’s research shows a similar jump in hunger: in  Bangladesh , 70% of women are worried that they can’t buy nutritious and diverse diets for their children. In  Jordan’s Azraq camp , 50% of people are reporting food shortages—and 90% of women say food is their biggest need right now. For  women, the picture is worse —women already make up 60% of the world’s hungry people, and are the  first to lose their incomes and market access  in a crisis. But as always, wo...

By Joseph Scott The spectre of flooding has always hung over Chitsa village in Nsanje, Rhoda Benford says. A fact of life during rainy seasons, the floods have traditionally always been anticipated during the month of January. So, when the month of January passed without incident, Rhoda thought the worst was over and started preparing for a good harvest. This year, she says, the crop had been good and she expected a bumper harvest. “I had a good crop of maize, some millet and a lot of pumpkins,” says the mother of five. “But all has been washed away.” Cyclone Idai caught communities unaware Like many in her village, Rhoda never saw the Cyclone Idai induced floods coming. She was looking into the future with hope. Almost 80 percent of people affected by the floods rely on their small holder farms as a source of income and for their livelihood. So, having a good harvest means much more than just a meal on the table. “If I get surplus harvest, I sell some to get mo...

Givemore Zambasa has been a lead farmer in his community since 2010. He is among the 325 lead farmers who have been trained in Conservation Agriculture With Trees (CAWT) technologies through the UBALE project. UBALE, is a USAID Office of Food for Peace-funded project (implemented by CARE in Nsanje District) that works to increase the productivity of profitable and nutritious crops for smallholder farmers by encouraging the use of sustainable and productive growing techniques. Zambasa has worked with the UBALE project since its inception in 2015. The project’s interventions, particularly the use of Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) techniques have helped improve life for Zambasa and his family, resulting in a transformation in both his field and his family’s livelihood. Zambasa’s community is located in the Nsanje District of southern Malawi where soil degradation and unfavorable weather patterns conditions result in poor growing conditions and limited harvests. Before the ...

Story 1: The man who changed for the better  In GVH Chitseko of Nsanje District, Lovemore Mpotalinga is considered a Gender Champion. Prior to being named a Gender Champion, Mpotalinga was known in the village to be a heavy drinker, he regularly used obscene language and was reportedly abusive to his wife. He would spend days drinking not providing for his family. His children were unable to attend school due to the lack of basic necessities such as clothing and writing materials. His family often faced food shortages, which resulted in his children becoming malnourished. His community decided to give him a life-changing task and selected him to act as a Gender Champion with the USAID Office of Food for Peace-funded UBALE project which is implemented by CARE in Nsanje District. This marked the beginning of new life for Lovemore Mpotalinga and his family. As a Gender Champion, Mpotalinga was asked to reaching out to people in his community and share messages an...

Esnart Diki is a respected and popular member of her community in GVH Chibuli T/A Ndamera in Malawi’s Nsanje District. She is a Lead Farmer, Chairman of the Village Development Committee (VDC) and an influential member of her community’s Savings and Internal Lending Community (SILC) group. Esnart is also considered a gender champion in her community and is a strong advocate for helping to end early marriages for young girls. Esnart, who has 4 daughters between the ages of 15 and 30, says her motivation for promoting gender equality and empowerment of rural women and girls comes as a result of watching her two eldest daughters marry at young ages. Esnart wished her daughters had continued with their education and waited to marry at an older age. However, within her community, Esnart is challenged by a number of issues she believes significantly impacted her daughters’ decisions to end their education. In Esnart’s rural community, marrying girls at a young age is an ongoing c...

“ My son was already declared dead by the community due to Malnutrition but Thanks to Mother Child Pair Food Distribution ” Baby Mateyu will grow to hear the stories shared by his mother on how Mother Child Pair (MCP) food distribution saved his life. MCP is the largest food distribution activity in the UBALE Program. MCP food distribution beneficiaries are all Pregnant and Lactating Women (PLWs) and all children are under the age of two. The sole purpose of this distribution is prevention of stunting as it targets the first 1,000 days of human life, that is from the date of conception of the mother to the second birthday of the new born baby. It was during one of these MCP distributions at GVH Kamanga in TA Tengani that the responsible Health Field Officer (HFO), Miss Elizabeth Gondwe, came across a desperate mother, Aida Khamba carrying her baby Mateyu . The appearance of the baby was not related to his age (2 months 3 weeks) as he looked very old and with a  shru...