Archived: Climate Change 2021 - Malawi - Cyclone Idai Response - Livelihoods Support
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Resource ID
4469
Access
Restricted
Contributed by
Natalia Fricker
Name of person(s) featured
Joyce Mhango
Country
Malawi
Region
Africa
Date
13 March 21
Credit
Malumbo Simwaka
Programme name (s)
Cyclone Idai Response
Partner organisation name(s)
Eagles Relief and Development Programme (EAGLES) and Churches Action in Relief and Development (CARD)
Consent form received
Yes
Subject
Climate Change, Disability, Emergency, Livelihoods
Camera make / model
Canon EOS 6D
Source
Digital Camera
Caption
EMBARGOED! This content is embargoed until further notice. DO NOT USE without consulting Diarmuid Mitchell - dmitchell@christian-aid.org Joyce Mhango, 25, tailoring a customer's dress, with other dresses that she has made in the background, in Mbande, Chikwawa District, Southern Malawi, in March 2021.
After severe flooding destroyed her house and washed away her livestock, Joyce and her family had to live in a displacement camp and were desperate for food. Thanks to Christian Aid's Cyclone Idai Response programme, she received cash, seeds and tools so that she could start farming again and afford food. She then received three months of tailoring training through a Christian Aid-supported training scheme so that she could earn a more reliable income to help support her family. She is now proud of being financially independent and able to do things for herself.
KEY QUOTES:
“Before I got married, I lived a happy life because my parents were responsible for my food and what I was wearing. When I got married life wasn’t easy like it was when I was with my parents because we had to work hard to have a better life. And with the new business of tailoring it's helping us economically to have a better life.”
“In 2019 we had severe floods which destroyed our houses and washed away livestock. We made makeshift houses at church. We were about 186 people staying in that church in March.”
“It was hard to find food. We were miserable, just trying to survive.
“Eagles came to support us through the Cyclone Idai Response. Through this initiative, we were given 23,500 Kwacha each, as well as soap and other necessities like maize flour, vegetables, hoes, machetes, and seedlings.”
“At the time I was four months pregnant. It was tough, I couldn’t even earn enough money to take me to the hospital for my routine checkups. Luckily, we were given corn-soya blend porridge to improve our health. We were also given mosquito nets. The net helped prevent me from catching malaria due to support from Eagles through Christian Aid.
“From the camp, I could not return to my previous house because it was destroyed, and we needed money to renovate it, and also to buy food. My husband engaged in piece work as a bricklayer in order to earn enough money to buy food for us.”
“Christian Aid trained me in tailoring skills which I had chosen. There were 75 youths from Chikwawa district of which 15 of them came from our village, Mbande. We did the training from 1st October to 31st December.”
“While doing the training I was given a sewing machine, sewing threads, cloths, a pair of scissors, an iron, needle pins and other sewing accessories. I also got 64,000 Kwacha to help me afford food and transportation during the training because I was coming from very far.”
“This new skill has brought change in my family, because before I relied on my husband for everything, but now I can easily buy food, clothes and soap by myself, without his help.
“If it wasn’t for this organisation helping me to develop tailoring skills I wouldn’t have been a happy person but today I am financially independent and am able to do things for myself.”
Background information
CONTEXT:
Malawi is highly vulnerable to extreme weather events caused by climate change, due to its location along the great African Rift Valley, rapid population growth, unsustainable urbanisation, climate variability and change, and environmental degradation.
In early March 2019, Cyclone Idai hit Malawi. The storm brought fierce winds, heavy rains and widespread flooding, ripping apart roads, bridges, houses, schools, and health facilities and submerging vast swathes of agricultural land. The flooding in the low-lying Southern region was particularly severe, especially in Chikwawa and Nsanje Districts, and pushed a large number of people into poverty and food insecurity.
Many people saw their homes be torn apart and their crops and livestock washed away, leaving them with little or no shelter, no source of income and no food. They lost most of their personal possessions, including clothes, blankets, kitchen utensils, everything.
PROBLEM:
Collins Lopa, Joyce Mhango and Fred Carlos were all severely affected by the floods caused by Cyclone Idai. Like so many other people from Malawi's low-lying Chikwawa and Nsanje Districts, they lost their homes and livelihoods and had to live in displacement camps until they could repair or rebuild their homes, with no food and no means of survival.
PROGRAMME INFO:
Working with 2 local partners – Eagles Relief and Development (Eagles) and Churches Action in Relief and Development (CARD) – Christian Aid's DEC Cyclone Idai Response supported the most vulnerable people with urgently-needed food, non-food items and livelihoods support. The first phase of the project ran from April to September 2019 (six months) and focused on saving the lives of Internally Displaced People (IDPs) who were living in camps - with items including cash, food, mosquito nets to prevent malaria, and seeds and tools to help them start farming again and grow food. The second phase ran from October 2019 to December 2020 (15 months) and focused on building the resilience of the Cyclone Idai-affected households by reducing their vulnerability to the impacts of disasters through improving livelihoods and strengthening disaster risk management systems.
This included three-month vocational skills training such as tailoring (Collins & Joyce), welding or carpentry, small-scale livestock such as goats (Fred Carlos), small-scale irrigation, and integrated agriculture-aquaculture farming. The programme also helped communities reduce their own impact on climate change and environmental degradation, such as raising awareness about the damaging impact of cutting down trees and instead, supporting the planting of trees, and mitigation work to prevent rivers from flooding.
IMPACT
The programme has been a lifeline for people like Collins, Fred and Joyce – helping them to get back on their feet, gain new skills and earn an income again so they can be financially independent, rebuild their homes and lives, and send their children to school.
For example - impact stats include:
- 150 apprentices have graduated from their vocational skills training and now have the skills and tools they need to earn their own income, including Collins Lopa and Joyce Mhango.
- 113 vulnerable households with limited work opportunities and land were supported with small livestock production such as goats (each household was given 5 goats), including Fred Carlos.
- 3,000 farming households were organised into irrigation schemes and supported to produce high-value crops like beans and sweet potatoes.
- 3 fish ponds have been constructed, two solar-powered irrigation sites were rehabilitated, and 110 farming households were targeted with integrated agriculture-aquaculture farming.
- The project also created links with high price markets so that farmers can get good prices for their crops, fish and livestock.
Collins, Fred and Joyce are proud of their new sources of income and financial independence and all expressed sincere gratitude to Christian Aid and our local parters Eagles and CARD for their lifesaving support and urged Christian Aid to continue supporting other flood-affected communities in Southern Malawi now and in future.
Marker lat / long: -13.5, 34 (WGS84)