Food Security
On 24 March 2024, Malawi’s President Chakwera declared a state of disaster in 23 of the country's 28 districts severely affected by the climate emergency-induced drought and devastating flooding "to allow humanitarian support to flow in and to contain the situation.” DoDMA Press release
A month before, the Scottish Government’s international development fund provided £500,000 to help address the food crisis in Malawi. These funds were provided to Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF) and Christian Aid to assist with the distribution of cash handouts to affected households to help them buy what they need and support the local economy.
At this meeting we we heard from these organisations and their implementing partners in Malawi, CADECOM – Caritas Malawi and Churches Action in Relief and Development (CARD) who are working to address the food security situation in Malawi.
Bio's of presenting organisations
SCIAF - Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund
SCIAF work in partnership with local civil and church organisations, supporting communities across the world to bring about lasting change. We put pressure on governments to care for the planet and create a fairer, more peaceful world.
Card Malawi
Churches Action in Relief and Development (CARD) is a local non-governmental organization that aims to consolidate more of its resources in the areas where it has more capacity and experience. It is for this reason that CARD aims to build a more robust network and collaboration strategy to work with organizations that can support its efforts.
Christian Aid - UK charity fighting global poverty
Christian Aid works with local partners and communities to fight injustice, respond to humanitarian emergencies, campaign for change, and help people claim the services and rights they are entitled to.
CADECOM - Caritas Malawi
CADECOM is under the Social Development Directorate which works in accordance with the Catholic Social Teaching, especially targeting the marginalised, excluded and poor households and communities of Malawi. The Social Development Directorate was then officially established at the Catholic Secretariat on 1st September 2015. Although the Social Development Directorate is an arm of the Catholic Church in Malawi, it works with people of all religions; its work and targeting procedure is determined by levels of vulnerability.
Resources
Agenda for the meeting available here.
Chat Log available here.
Food Crisis Malawi - CARITAS presentation.
Christian Aid's Response to the Food Crisis in Mwanza - Lean Season Response.
Malawi farmers learn food diversification to curb hunger - VOA news.
Recording
Missed this meeting? You can find the recording on this page with the below time stamps
Agenda
00:00 Welcome remarks - Natasha Maluza, SMP Comms & Engagement Officer
02:33 MaSP Welcome - Linda Dembo, Malawi Scotland Partnership Interim CEO
04:10 Context and opening comments - Chad Morse, SMP Deputy CEO
06:37 Christian Aid's response to the food crisis in Mwanza - Val Brown, Head of Scotland
08:45 Christian Aid's response to the food crisis in Mwanza - Chipo Kachiwala, Program
Development and Funding Manager
14:22 Churches Action in Relief and Development (CARD) - Melton Luhanga - Executive Director
26:51 Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF) - Jonathan Dames – Emergencies
Officer
30:37 CADECOM/CARITAS Malawi - Richard Kusseni – Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning Officer
40:36 Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF) - Chris MacLullich, Malawi Programme Officer
43:23 Members’ comments, questions and contributions
58:38 Closing remarks - Stuart Brown, SMP CEO
