Malawi and UN launch resilience project

The Malawi government in collaboration with the United Nations and other partners, including Non-Governmental Organisations launched a two year project aimed at building the resilience of vulnerable communities to recurrent climatic shocks and enhancing their productivity to achieve food and nutrition security.

The launch took place on Monday at Lihaka Primary School in Phalombe district which was attended among others  Principle secretary for economic and planning and development Ted Sitima-Wina, UN Resident Coordinator  Mia Seppo, MP for the area Dennis Namachekecha and ADRA Country Director Michael Usi.

The project which is called, “Building the capacity of vulnerable households to meet their basic needs and withstands shocks in Phalombe” will be implemented in two T/A’s namely Chiwalo and Jenala.

According to UN Resident Coordinator Mia Seppo, the project seeks to improve coordination and strengthen linkages among social cash transfer, public works, food/ cash emergency response and fertiliser and input subsidy programs to ensure maximum impact of existing resources.

“This project will promote strong coordination of various stakeholders’ activities through sharing lessons of best practices, and through joint planning, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation,” she said.

Seppo said these efforts will support and align with the social protection support system strengthening initiative led by the Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Development.

The UN will work as one in Phalombe, with the Food and Agriculture Organisation as the lead implementing agency in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Children’s Fund, and World Food Programme and NGOs already operating in the project’s impact area, including Catholic Development Commission, Adventist Development and Relief Agency Malawi,  Save the Children , World Vision International, Concern Universal, Evangelical Lutheran Development Services, Dignitas, and Mulanje Mountain Conservation Trust.

Financial  Support from the African Solidarity Trust Fund amounting to US$2 million in enabling the projects implementation.

In his remarks, Sitima-Wina said this collaborative intiative focuses on Phalombe because the district is highly vulnerable to climatic shocks and the UN agencies involved already have resilience-related interventions in the district on which to build and achieve greater impact.

“The UN has been working to support resilience in Malawi for the last decade, and this project is an example of how the government and the UN will continue to support resilience-building efforts throughout the country,” he said.

He also said the project will also include capacity development of relevant sections at the District Council involved in nutrition, agriculture and food security, environment and climate change management, gender, children, and social welfare issues, development planning, as well as disaster management.

The launch was spices up with traditional dances and comedy from popular duo-skit Izeki and Jakobo.

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