• DAPP Malawi is in 2021 celebrating 26 years of active involvement in development work with communities through out the country

  • DAPP is implementing 17 projects within education, health, agriculture and community development in 25 district that span across the country's three regions

Soya Milk Production

soya-milk-production-dapp-malawiDAPP Malawi,Soya Milk Making Supports Nutrition of Kalumo Village Families
Before 2015, the family of Agnes Kaliati from Kalumo village of Traditional Authority  Kalumo in Ntchisi could not afford milk. It was too expensive and the family could only manage to drink milk once or twice in a year.
Since joining Mother Group at Masangano Primary School in 2015, Agnes together with other women were trained by DAPP on various skills including making milk from soya beans.
DAPP Malawi with support from the Roger Federer Foundation is implementing a project aimed at improving the lives of children who go to school. And through it the women have learnt special skills to make among others juice and Jam from locally available foods.  The women are also trained in making fuel saving stoves to mitigate the impact of climate change.
“Its easy to make soya milk” says Agnes then explains “We clean the soya beans and boil until its hulls become soft and loose. Then we flush out the hulls and rinse the beans thoroughly. We pour the beans into the mortar and we start the process of grinding the beans by pounding. To separate the soy milk from solids we use a sieve [or squeezing through cheesecloth] and recover the soy milk then heat the soy milk till boiling point. After wards we cool the milk and it is ready to be taken. We also improve the taste by adding some salt and sugar
Agnes says is happy that she has a skill of making milk for her family which is enjoyed by her child who is now in standard 3 and loves to drink the milk every morning before going to school.
“My family enjoys this milk and they encourage me to make this milk every day” says Agnes who described the soya milk as being as good as fresh milk from shop.
Apart from happiness the milk has brought to her family, she also noted that the milk has improved the health nutrition status of her family and because of these benefits; she plans to cultivate more soya this farming season so that her family can drink milk throughout the year.
“I am encouraging people to cultivate more soya and use it to make milk because it is good for our health.” Adds Agnes who says this milk is both good and cheaper

Improved sanitation in more than 1,500 villages

1500 villagesThe standard of living for thousands for people in districts of  Thyolo, Chiradzulu, Blantyre and Chikhwawa district are set to improve for the better as DAPP Malawi in partnership with PLAN and UNICEF is mobilising communities  to make and use latrines.
DAPP Malawi works to compliment government efforts to improve people’s livelihoods
In 2015, DAPP Child Aid project worked with 285 villages in Chikhwawa district reaching 26,665 beneficiary families directly and 128,007 people indirectly while in Thyolo and Chiradzulu districts; the project reached 225,000 people in 700 villages. In October 2015 another 400 villages were included and the reach was extended to Blantyre rural also.

Country Director for DAPP Malawi Lisbeth Thomsen says the project is  unique in that the project has taken multi-sectoral and holistic approach through integrating all WASH components instead of focusing on individual elements, thus creating a decisive difference to existing projects in that it is far more comprehensive and overcomes the paradigm of concentrating purely on construction of WASH facilities or on capacity building and find them unused after a short time as the maintenance can’t be done by local people.

DAPP Malawi fighting hunger

WFP and DAPP Malawi fighting hunger in rural areas of MalawiMargaret David a mother of seven is struggling to make ends meet. She has no source of income and her only hope for her survival and that of her children is the field.  She still had to depend on very unpredictable weather patterns to provide for the necessary condition for her to produce food enough for her big family. In the best season she can only have food to last her three months.

Margaret David is among the 3 942 beneficiaries of the food distribution taking place in tradition authority Kunthembwe in Blantyre rural courtesy of DAPP Malawi. Every month Margaret and her children receive 50kg of maize, 6kg of legumes and 2 litres of cooking oil. “The food donation that I receive does not last me the month due to the size of the family. The father of the seven children died in 2007 and I have no one to help me cater for the family,” said Margaret David DAPP Malawi and WFP have intensified activities in areas affected by the hunger crisis in order for families to have lasting solutions to the perennial problem of food shortages.

The households have been empowered with agriculture inputs to make vegetable gardens that may supply the households with good nutrition. “The vegetables will supplement the rations that we get from WFP because in most cases the relish finish earlier than that maize” continues David. The house holds also have sanitation and hygiene facilities to contribute to the reduction of the occurrence of sanitation related diseases. Every house hold is encouraged to have a line for drying clothes, a dish rack, a rubbish pit among others.

In order to reduce the pressure that people living in poverty and hunger situation exert on the environment the communities have been encouraged to use fuel serving technologies. “The fuel serving stoves have lessened the burden we have in looking for firewood. The stoves have also reduced the impact that people put on trees as a source of firewood,” said Margaret David.

WFP/DAPP Malawi mitigating the impact of climate change.

WFP DAPP Malawi mitigating the impact of climate changeIn order to mitigate the impact of climate change as well as improve the composition of soils in traditional authority Kunthembwe in Blantyre, WFP in collaboration with DAPP Malawi is working with communities to plant trees. Some of the trees being planted is Albizia Lebbeck locally known as Mtanga tanga which possesses properties of nitrogen fixing in the soil. The communities have so far planted over seven hundred trees with some still in the nursery Monica Changoyima from Jekeseni village says that the engagement with the organization started when some of the community members were selected as beneficiaries of the distribution. Some of the most vulnerable members of the community are beneficiaries of the food distribution from WFP.

“DAPP Malawi noticed that as much as we had trees in the nursery we did not have the right agro forestry skills to care for the trees. So they came in with instructions on how we should plant the trees,” Changoyima. According to the Monica Changoyima the members of the community have been empowered with knowledge on the benefits of planting trees and having forests. She says that most people are now aware of the importance of trees in the rain cycle.

 “If we have a lot of trees in the forest we are increasing the chances of having good rainfall. Due to the destruction of forests the country has experienced changes in the climatic conditions,” states Changoyima. The women also realize that due to the unavailability of energy alternatives people are always going to rely on firewood for energy. This will have a great effect on the environment as well as increase their drudgery as they fetch for wood for various house hold uses. The organization has also introduced fuel serving stoves in the communities in order for the communities to reduce the amount of wood they use.     

Village Savings and Loans empowering farmers in Chikwawa

In order to improve the saving culture as well improve access to finance for the women farmers DAPP Malawi through the farmers clubs introduced Village savings and loans.

The village savings and loans facility has helped farmers to access finance and some women farmers have capitalised their income generating activities.

According to member of the village savings Esther Mukhova and loans the groping that started with 20 peoeple people has now grown to represent a bigger part of the community.

“The village bank has grown and we are now able to lend each other big amounts of money. Some of our member are getting up to 100 000 Malawi kwacha ($134),”said Mukhova

Memory London operates a grocery shop in Chikhwawa. She is also building a house with bricks and corrugated iron sheets. She attributes all to the savings and the loan she acquired through the village savings and loans.

“In this year I have made a lot of money through the village savings and loans. I have bought goats and I am building a house. I have also invested some of the money in the business,” said Landani

Some members of the village savings and loans have been able to support their families from the money they get from the groups.

The village savings and loans offer the members a chance to save money. The interest payable by members is lower than the lending rates from conventional banks.

Below you can see a short film about the farmers in Chikwawa

 

Members of Humana People to People

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Contact DAPP Malawi

DAPP Malawi
Plot No. CC 1086, Maselema, Limbe
Blantyre District, Malawi

Cell: +265885834277

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