180, 000 agriculture-dependent rural households to benefit from a 4-year project

At least 180, 000 agriculture-dependent rural households are expected to benefit from The Sustainable Food Systems for Rural Agriculture Transformation and Resilience (TRANSFORM) Programme, which a consortium of three Norwegian organizations is implementing in five districts in Malawi.

TRANSFORM Programme is being implemented in Dowa, Mchinji, Kasungu, Mzimba and Rumphi with an annual grant of NOK70m (MWK5.6billion) from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) through Royal Norwegian Embassy (RNE).

It is being coodinated by a consortium of three Norwegian organisations, which include The Development Fund of Norway (DF), Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) and Norwegian University for Life Sciences (NMBU) focusing on research.

In Malawi, the Programme is working with Total Land Care (TLC), the African Institute of Corporate Citizenship (AICC), Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR), Anglican Council of Malawi (ACM), Assemblies of God Care (AG-Care), Biodiversity Conservation Initiative (BCI), Catholic Development Commission of Malawi (CADECOM), Centre for Environmental Policy and Advocacy (CEPA), Find Your Feet (FYF), Malawi Union of Savings and Credit Cooperatives (MUSCCO) and Network for Youth Development (NFYD), Trustees of Agricultural Promotion Program (TAPP).

This week, TRANSFORM Programme has organized digital storytelling workshop to introduce implementing partners to the digital storying concept and provide practical skills in using digital storytelling to effectively communicate the impact of TRANSFORM Programme from the perspective of the programme beneficiaries.

The workshop will run from Tuesday to Thursday at Linde Hotel at Mponela in Dowa.

And speaking after the opening of the workshop, TRANSFORM Programme Manager Phillip Tegha said the intervention will address underlying challenges by strengthening local food systems in 22 selected Extension Planning Areas (EPAs) to demonstrate a sustainable improvement of food and nutrition security, resilience to climate change and increased income among agriculture-dependent rural households.

Tegha thus said the objective of the training in digital storytelling is to provide digital equipment to people who want to tell their stories because they have been positively impacted by a project instead of extension workers telling a story on their behalf.

“This is done through pictures (photo essay) showing before and after the impact/change. It can also be through a short video (5 to 10 mins video) that can be taken once or twice a day by the storyteller. The digital storytelling is here to compliment/enhance the current analogue story telling that is in use,” he said.

Tegha said the stories will go into websites and any other relevant platforms.

LUANAR Vice Chancellor Professor George Kanyama Phiri described TRANSFORM Programme as a game changer in the agriculture sector.

Kanyama Phiri disclosed that the programme will produce a number of outcomes, including evidence-based and innovative methodologies for climate resilience and agricultural transformation developed, tested, and disseminated.

“We also expect increased productivity, production and diversification of climate adaptive agriculture; increased consumption of nutritious and diverse food; increased resilience to climate change at the household and community level; improved profitable market access and entrepreneurship; improved social integration and gender equality and improved policy and regulatory environment for agriculture and climate resilience,” he said.

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