Project duration: July 2011 to June

2016
Multi-country program (Malawi,
Ethiopia and Tanzania) funded by
AusAID now DFAT through AACES
(Australian Africa Community
Engagement Scheme) and CARE
Australia
Being implemented in Malawi in 2
districts (Dowa in TA Chiwere and
Lilongwe in TA Kalumbu)
Targeting 15,000 households
Implemented in partnership with
local NGO called MAICC (Mponela
AIDS Information and Counseling
Centre) in Dowa
Budget: $2.4m for 5 years

WE-RISE Purpose: Improve food security, income and resilience for

chronically food insecure rural women through their social and economic
empowerment
WE-RISE Outcomes
1. CFIRW have increased household productive assets and resources &
control over these, and are more resilient to climate shocks
2. Formal & informal institutions are more responsive to womens
priorities & accountable to upholding their rights.
3. Cultural and social norms & attitudes better support the individual &
collective aspirations & improved opportunities for CFIRW
4. CAREs learning, knowledge & documentation on womens
empowerment, transforming gender norms, and climate change
resilience is strengthened such that CARE can better inform and
influence AusAID & other key stakeholders
5. Outcomes and lessons learnt from WE-RISE are communicated
effectively to the Australian public

The WE RISE program works primarily with women belonging to Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs), farmers, marketing
groups, Adult Literacy circles; Village agents and farmer to farmer trainers and male champion clubs.
Summary of achievements are as follows:

22,944 (f=17925 and m=5019) of poor women and men increased their access to financial services through VSL surpassing the
impact population of 15,000. A total of U$D 1,283,843 has been saved and shared among VSL Members.
9441 (f=7790 and m=1651) households who are producer farmers of soy and groundnuts were reached with farm inputs (seeds)
which contributed to increased yield
All VSL farming households 22,944 ( f=17925 and m=5019) accessed new or improved services(VSL, Agriculture, adult literacy,
Environmental management, gender and male engagement
20,745 (f=13899 and m=6846) people with increased awareness of rights and gender
29827 (f=19994 and m=9833) of people accessing services (Services include agriculture extension, HIVAIDS Prevention, care and
support, environmental management and DRR, nutrition, and male engagement. The total includes non participating project
participants (n=6883, F=4033 and m=2850) which includes other community members and traditional leaders and this was
attributed to the engagement of local government structures like ADC/VDC. 85% of positions on management committees are
held by women(VSL, VDC,ADC,water supply, schools, village health centres. 54, f=38 and m=16 public servants trained and
actively involved in the implementation

90 women are generating income through tailoring, bakery and soap making. 77 local CBOs/communities participated actively in
the local government monitoring processes and 40 (f=27 and m=13) people with disabilities accessed services during the
implementation of the Project.
Lemekeza Mokiwa
Program Director (P1)
Care Malawi
P/Bag A 89
Lilongwe, Malawi
Email: lemekeza.mokiwa@care.org

Compiled and designed by:

Mark Kumbukani Black
M&E Technical Advisor
WE-RISE Project

Constance Mzungu
WE-RISE Project Manager
Care Malawi
P/Bag A 89
Lilongwe, Malawi
Email:constance.mzungu@care.org

Page

Michael Rewald
Country Director
Care Malawi
P/Bag A 89
Lilongwe, Malawi
Email: michael.rewald@care.org

CONTACT PERSONS

The selected extension agents

represented over 50% female
participants and trainings were organized
in order to build their capacity. These
trainings were in the area of: agronomy,
extension skills, gender, VSL
methodology and adult literacy.
The project distributed bicycles to
Volunteer leaders to facilitate mobility
while disseminating information to the
surrounding communities
The village based extension agents
reached a total of 8255 people (2005M;
6250F) with messages around
agronomy, gender, saving and literacy.

To ensure there is an increase in the

capacity and focus of duty bearers to
deliver inclusive and sustainable services
as well as local accountability and
responsibility, the project oriented 2
ADCs, 2 AECs and 73 VDCs
representatives. ADCs, AECs and VDCs
are critical local administration structures
which have supported WE-RISE project
activities
As a result of the successful work done
by FFTs and other agents there was
demand from the areas which were not
targeted in the first year.. Chiefs
demanded the presence of the project in
their areas and the project complied to
the demands.
At the onset of the project, a
stakeholders orientation training was
conducted which drew participants from
a cross section of government
departments (agriculture, forestry, health
and community development) to
understand and support the concept of
women empowerment and the purpose
of WE-RISE
In the period ending June 2012, the WERISE project sought, among other things,
to assess and reorganize VSL groups so
that they could be facilitated to start
group based income generating activities
(IGAs). A total of 530 groups (434 new
and 96 old) were formed and revamped

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he first phase of implementation

included briefing meetings with
Government departments followed by
Inception workshop, ADC&AEC
sensitizations, Community sensitizations
and mobilization, Set criteria in
consultation with the communities, to
guide in choosing the right candidates as
community based extension agents. The
criteria looked at people who able to
read, be community based and well
established, be a member of a VSL and
willingness to participate among others
Identification and selection of 98 FFTs
(50M; 48F), 64 VAs (28M; 36F) and 15
Adult Literacy Instructors (8M; 7F) from
the 2 Traditional Authorities

In a bid to support a sharing and learning space between local

stakeholders and decision-makers, WE-RISE conducted a district
level reflection meeting where participation of cross-section of
stakeholders shared successes and challenges.
The project embarked on working with a number of partners
such as Ministries of Agriculture, Health, Women and Children
Development and other civil society organizations in order to
strengthen the coordination within the Districts
ARE Malawi being part of AACES Malawi NGO partners and being the chairing NGO (2012),
was part of the quarterly NGO meetings to share a number of AACES programming issues such
as best practice in targeting marginalized beneficiaries, their interventions and issues of impact
measurement and communication of the program activities to a larger Malawi community.

In the year two of implementation of the

WE-RISE, the project managed to facilitate
the further training of a total of 259
community based extension agents. These
included 105 FFTs (50M; 55F), 64 VAs
(28M; 36F) and due to demand from the
communities 90 more Adult Literacy
Instructors (60M; 30F) were added to the
team from TA Chiwere and Kalumbu.

apacity building of agents and VSLAs in

SPM for IGA resulted in over 60% of
women involved small scale businesses
which range from itinerant trading to
retailer shops (hawkers). The project
managed to reach all VSLAs and a total of
1320 non-VSLA members with nutrition
messages through cooking and feeding
demonstrations

Facilitated the formation of 88 Producer

groups (for soya and groundnuts). These
groups were supported to collectively

procure seed and inoculants As a result, 17

marketing committees were set up to
oversee the selling of the produce mainly
soya and groundnuts

Mounted 40 compost manure making

demonstration in 40 Group Village Heads
(GVHs). 76 farm families (49F) adopted the
technology and applied in their farms

Mounted 65 demonstration plots planted

with soya, beans, cassava and sweet
potatoes. The FFTs were given sweet potato
vines (113 bundles) and cassava cuttings (150
bundles) by the project

The project trained 26 (13M; 13F)

community volunteers, 10 WE-RISE staff and
73 (67M;6F) chiefs in gender and womens
rights. The chiefs have been instrumental in
empowering and supporting the formation
of 6 male motivators clubs

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The project facilitated 12 Community volunteers review meetings (involving all WE-RISE volunteers and Government
Agriculture extension staff) in which the volunteers share achievements and challenges in implementing their activities and
devise on solutions to the challenges

Conducted the baseline survey through TANGO International Consultants for the 2 WE-RISE Districts
of Dowa and Lilongwe and the findings were the benchmarks for future assessments including
evaluation

CARE Malawi and CADECOM (CARITAS) organized and held a joint launch of the AACES program in Dowa
district in which the two organizations are implementing their programs; Cares WE-RISE program on food
security and CADECOM program on WASH. The launch drew together representatives from government,
District Assemblies (of Dowa and Lilongwe), communities and other AACES NGOs in Malawi. Among other
things, the launch aimed at sensitizing the communities and stakeholders on the objectives of AACES and
respective Care Malawi and CADECOM programs, the targeted marginalized beneficiaries, the cost and
duration of the programs.

Fig. Left: Banner with the theme, Right: Women celebrating at the AACES Program Launch in Dowa

Distributed 7550kgs of soya; 9050 kgs of Beans and

8000kgs of ground nuts to TA Kalumbu and Chiwere
communities for agriculture production A total of
2,000 most venerable farmers benefited from the
distribution

WE-RISE project conducted an assessment on existing

irrigation sites which led to the procurement of 20
PVC pipes and 270 bags

Trained 60 beneficiaries on bakery, tailoring and

soap making (20 people per training) as a way of
boosting their economic status through income
generating activities. Participants were women drawn
from TA Kalumbu and Chiwere .As a result of the
trainings, participants have gained skills in baking,
tailoring and soap making and have developed plans
to start economic activity in their homes to increase
their households income. WE-RISE project procured
and distributed 20 sewing machine, soap making
materials as a start up for the beneficiaries

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The Project trained community Para vets in order to promote animal care, in collaboration with agriculture extension
staff in the Districts. 100 (40 in TA Kalumbu and 60 in TA Chiwere) people participated in the training. Para-vets are
community based animal health workers who serve to fill a large gap in veterinary services and access to vital
information to improve livestock production. The training will result in community paravets providing veterinary
services to community members on livestock care.

WE-RISE project continued providing technical support to village savings and loan groups in TA Kalumbu and Chiwere.
Groups had an opportunity to share out their contributions and interest at the end of the year. In TA Kalumbu MK91,
225293 (USD228, 063.00) was shared at the end of 2013 while in TA Chiwere, MK22, 000,000 (USD55, 000) was
shared. One challenge faced was that some of the groups were lending to outsiders which led to defaulters and after reorienting the groups, a decision was made not to lend to outsiders.

The community scorecard was conducted in TA Kalumbu and Chiwere with the aim of building the capacity
communities on how to conduct and implement the scorecard. The process was also carried out to make sure that
communities have a voice on any initiative and being able track changes, identify gaps and come up with solutions in a
participatory manner in their communities
2,591 (f=1998 and m =593) people had access to various health, education, empowerment and food and nutrition
security related information through drama performances. The involvement of theatre for development in information
dissemination proved to be the best way of sharing information to larger masses and the information sharing helped
people make informed decisions on issues that concern them at household and community level
WE-RISE facilitated trainings of 24 male champion Clubs for both TA Kalumbu and Chiwere which 720 men and 720
spouses attended on the last day of the training totaling to 1440. The spouses acquired social economic gender based
information to ensure collectiveness in household decision making.

WE-RISE has been working on establishing an informed society on healthy gender power relation amongst men and
women in development circles. The project organized gender training for 20 community volunteers including their
spouses and this was followed by a session for all community volunteers in TA Kalumbu and Chiwere as part of male
engagement on gender issues. 316 in TA Chiwere and 342 in TA Kalumbu participated in the gender discussions totaling
658 (329 females and 329 males

Conducted midterm evaluation and recommendations are highlighted in a table below

Following the nutrition capacity building training given to Village

Agents, food preparation and cooking skills were passed on to
beneficiaries through community trainings which reached out to 619
beneficiaries (240 m & 379 f). It is interesting to note how most
household are utilizing the skills in their households. 10 VSL groups
contributed cooking materials which supported the Village Agents to
train them in modern cooking.

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of cement, 8 wheelbarrows and 8 shovels for maintenance work. After the rehabilitation of irrigation sites the
surrounding communities reported having easy access to water for their land and this increased income from sales
of winter crops. 6000 fish fingerings were procured and distributed to communities with fish ponds in TA Kalumbu
and Chiwere. TA Chiwere has 14 fish ponds while Kalumbu has 5 and the 6000 fingerings were distributed to the 5
fish ponds in T/A Kalumbu and 5 fish ponds in T/A Chiwere. This resulted in increased income and access to the
protein rich food to the surrounding communities
Joint agriculture field day was conducted in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture with the theme Following
new farming technologies is a key to sustainable livelihoods and food security A total of 855 people attended the
event (312 men and 543 women) and the event was graced by Senior Chief Kalumbu who was the guest of honour
and all his 33 GVHs and their Village Heads were also present during the function. The DADO and other officials from
the Ministry of Agriculture also attended the event.

Improve VSLA outreach to CFIRW: WE-RISE needs to tailor a model to the needs of CFIRW who are currently unable to join
VSLAs or producer groups. Although VSLAs are formed through self-selection,.
Intensify literacy support: Although womens enrolment in literacy classes is not an indicator within the projects performance
monitoring system, the midterm team strongly believes scaling up literacy and numeracy initiatives will multiply project impact and
maximize the integration of other project activities
Intensify efforts to increase access to inputs: WE-RISE should scale up efforts to improve womens access to quality and
diverse seed strains. Remote areas should be prioritized for assistance if budgets are restrictive. In addition to existing project
plans to promote collective buying, which may help to mitigate price and distance challenges
Simplify, integrate, and sequence activities: WE-RISE can maximize impact by simplifying the project focus to activities that are
strongly contributing to the overall goal. WE-RISE addresses a diverse set of activities with a very small staff.
Enhance the quality of marketing initiatives and intensity marketing committees through intensified business training.
Promote greater sustainability of community extension agents: FFTs and VAs must be made both sustainable and legitimate
in order for WE-RISE to succeed as a transformative development effort. This requires closer supervision and mentoring of
volunteer-driven initiatives and strengthening linkages to structures that encourage continuation of their work.
Refine project monitoring and evaluation systems:It is critical that WE-RISE refine project M&E systems at all levels such that
the systems can inform improvements in project design and implementation, define achievement at end line, and, ensure
accountability to the program intent and donors. Several action items will enhance the quality of the M&E systems

the jurisdiction of every FFT and farmers

had an opportunity to practice and learn
from the demonstration plot covering all
required agricultural practices as farmer
field business school. The project
procured and distributed 900kgs of
certified maize, 220 kgs of beans, 220kgs
of groundnuts and 300 kgs of Soya.
These were distributed to all
demonstration sites per every Farmer to
farmer trainer

Empowered women with negotiations

skills through training them in

Deepened Women gender understanding

that has seen women able to claim for
their rights in agricultural and marketing
engagement. This achievement is as a
result community gender dialogue
sessions that saw 770 (400 women and
370men) participating in discussion.

community Scorecard to effectively

engage service providers on issues
concerning their participation,
involvement and inclusion in household
and community development agenda.
Reduced incidences of Newcastle in
chickens within the communities
following the training of 100 community
paravets who in turn vaccinated a total

Supported women with small scale

irrigation skills through trainings,
construction of sites and provision of
improved seed which increased the
population of women from 1500 to
3710 benefiting in household food
production and selling the surplus that in
return increased savings portfolio in
VSLAs
Irrigation has indeed created income
during a time when farmers had no
source of income and this contributed to
access to better household nutrition. A
farmer in TA Kalumbu reported selling
green maize and cabbage at K63, 000
(U$157) and used part of the money to
buy fertilizer for the normal growing
season.
Increased farmers (no=8840(7310
females and 1530 males)knowledge in
agronomic practices and extension
services on best practices on
recommended seed for planting,
planting stations, weeding and banking
Promoted agriculture learning through
demonstrations that were mounted
(no=73) targeting 8840 farmers within

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Improved literacy levels among VSL

members through the continued
collaboration with Ministry of gender
and community services in a bid to get
more women join adult education
classes. A total of 1939 people (1679
females and 269 males) attending adult
education classes in TA Kalumbu. Adult
education learners have reported that
they are now not shying away from
events and meetings as they are able to
read and write. For me to read, its
something special because am able to
count money easily and read the bible

WERISE Malawi has rolled out the implementation of Male Championship interventions in 73
villages; and received overwhelming support for both community and District councils because of
its contribution towards improving gender power relations. Male champion clubs were involved in
disseminating information especially on gender and gender based violence and a total of 3560
people were reached (2346 women and 1214 men). There is greater understanding and awareness
of women about their rights and assertion of their rights and how to access public services and
public information including issues to do with access of productive resources. Male championship

which was not the case before a learner

said
WE-RISE project in collaborated with
Dowa and Lilongwe District Councils
supported restructuring of Village
Development and Area Development
Committees for Chiwere and Kalumbu
Communities. This enabled the
committees to acquire capacity for
managing diversity planning especially
supporting inclusion of women at all
levels. This development will see
continuity of WERISE intervention even
after the funding period
The project continued providing
technical support on scorecard processes
in the communities. The project trained
40 community scorecard facilitators in
TA Kalumbu and Chiwere and was in
turn involved in training fellow
communities on scorecard. Community
scorecard processes have resulted into
the following:
Increased number of women leaders
and womens local and grassroots
organizations in community
development processes as a result of
lobbying after scorecard process.
Hard working spirit of extension
staff after scorecard process revealed
that extension staffs were not doing
their job as expected
Reduction of gender based violence
cases reported to Chiefs as
recommended during scorecard that
perpetrators would be dealt with
and people subjected to gender
based violence should report to the
traditional leaders
Facilitated accessibility of
government subsidy input
programme for 3000 beneficiaries in
TA Chiwere who were left out
during the distribution despite being
included in the plan

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of 15,925 chickens. Communities

reported significant reductions of
Newcastle disease in the communities
chickens were vaccinated. There are
more chickens in the communities as
death due to new castle had been
reduced.
Improved harvest and post harvest
management through sensitizations that
were conducted in 43 villages and the
orientation of all the farmer to farmer
trainers with their farmers in post harvest
management (3678 (2722 females and
956 men).
Improved nutritional status of project
participants as a result of adoption of
nutritional sessions and on a particular
note, the project built the capacity of 3
groups of people living with HIV/AIDS in
TA Kalumbu on nutrition considering
that nutrition plays a vital role in
improving health wellbeing of persons
with HIV as it help in boosting the
immune system along side with proper
treatment

Dialogue sessions with project

participants were conducted in

T.A.Kalumbu covering different

thematic areas(Environment and

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model has provided a forum for gender massages to get across to men and start acting for the
betterment of their households
Women empowerment tracking through
indicated that members were able to
cohort study was done in TA Kalumbu
accumulate 195,253,121 Malawi Kwacha
and Chiwere targeting 20 participants
representing U$ 433895 covering TA
and it was discovered that women are
Kalumbu in Lilongwe and TA Chiwere in
making headways towards
Dowa.There has been Increased access to
empowerment. The study provided an
financial services income from VSL groups
opportunity for the project to assess the
is used to purchase inputs, pay for agriculture
trend in women empowerment.
labor, procure livestock, build houses, for
Promoted the integration of fish farming
health services and meet other household
in irrigation utilizing existing fish ponds
needs.
within the communities and this has
Capacity building and sustainability of
diversified their income among members
interventions: The project was involved
in building the capacity of project
participants and structures in the
following:
Area development committee {35
men and 32 Female= 67} and
village development committees
{504-260 females and 244 men }for
them to competently render
WE RISE Project is also promoting the
development initiatives to the
retention of soil fertility initiatiative
masses. So far committee members
through different agriculture technologies
are confident to provide necessary
like manure making, conservation
support to their communities
Agriculture and pit planting. Mlinga

Selected project participants were

group is one of the areas where they are
grilled in Photo story telling {20 -12
very much concerned with their soils
women and 8 men} and have been
which normally affect the yield
collecting photo stories which has
production. The project in
proved to be an easy way of
collabororation with the mininstry of
following impact of individuals
Agriculture staff (AEDO) conducted the

Farmer to farmer trainers refresher

manure making training in the area. 56
course in agronomy, conservation
members (40 women and 16 men)
agriculture and management of
attended the training. There were 10
crops {21 men 22 Female= 43}. FFTs
pits which were dug for the exercise.
reported being more confidence in
building the capacity of farmers as
they have been refreshed.
Assertiveness training for project
participants in both T.As (both wife
and husband were invited) and were
grilled on assertiveness that has a
The project continued providing
good effect on empowerment {14
technical support to
men 21 Female = 35}. The
VSL which is an entry point for community
participants are currently being
members to access services. So far
assertive in different aspects which
22944{15078 females and 7866 men}
include household decision making
community people are registered as VSL
among others
members and a report in January 2015

The WE RISE project procured and

distributed 2000 kgs of maize seed, 1500
onion (10g) seed, and 500 carrot 10g
seed to 1000 farmers for winter
cropping. These were grown mainly for
income generating and communities
reported having their income increased.

Review meetings have been conducted

in different areas like Nankumba,
kuchitala, Chikanada, Mthete and many
others. The main purpose of the review
meetings was to assess the progress of
VSL groups and the challenges they were
facing. Most of the groups shared their
money last season and only few groups
had challenges. Some of the challenges
faced by the groups were;
Inadequate business skills since
some of the groups were not
oriented in business
management.
Recycling of office bearers in VSL
and this result into manipulation
of the constitution Some of the
Village Agents were charging the
large amount of money for
service fee especially during the
sharing out period.
Lending outsiders is still
becoming the challenge to some
groups.

The project conducted 4 days long food

processing training at Nathenje RTC in TA
Kalumbu. The main objective of the training was
to provide knowledge in food processing,
Preservation and storage so that the little farm
produce they can have they should be able to
utilize them efficiently and at the same time food
nutrients will be retained.

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climate change, Agriculture

production ,VSL and its benefits;
Adult Literacy classes, Gender and
HIV AIDs)- 167 men 595 Female
=762. Project participants are
applying knowledge on their day to
day lives and individuals who were
not able to read and write, have
dispelled the shame and have joined
adult education classes {no=65 all
females)
DRR-Energy saving stoves training
and practical-{9 men and 57
Females=66} was conducted for
project participants with 2
representation from each group
village participated in the training
where the Senior Chief-TA Kalumbu
was in attendance. Project
participants have currently ventured
into income generation using energy
saving stoves which has added
income sources in addition to help
conserve the forest.
Reporting restructuring as part of exit
strategy- The Project conducted a
meeting with all government staff and
agreed on the reporting modalities
including the certification of community
volunteers. Another meeting was
conducted involving WE-RISE project,
government staff and community
volunteers to discuss and agree and
develop action plan which included
development of reporting forms and
questionare for certification.{ 52 men 69
Female = 121}

The project conducted the three days

training on women assertiveness which
was held at Nathenje RTC from 19 21
June 2015. The main objective of the
training was to equip the women with
knowledge of having a voice and be
assertive in different social settings. 20
ADC women who are holding leadership
positions attended the training

The project mobilized and involved the

communities in disaster risk reduction
and mitigation measures in order to
assist the women to be resilient to
unexpected shocks. 126 project
participants were trained on how to
make energy saving stoves and two
volunteers from CARE ECRP Mwanza
and Machinga facilitated the training and
the practical aspect of the initiative.
Currently project participants are using
energy saving stoves and are also
generating income through selling the
stoves to fellow community members.
13200 (f 8144 and m 5056). community
members were sensitized on the benefits
of energy saving stoves and are currently
using the stoves aswell as generating
income from the sales.

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The Project continued implementing the routine activities in addition to the exit strategies. This included
the following:

Nutrition Training to community members: A

health society is a fountain of development; as it
meaningfully contributes towards household and
area development agendas. Empowerment of
women that WERISE want to achieve will have
very minimal significance if households live with
malnutrition due to poor knowledge. The project
continues to support implementation of nutrition
education to its constituency.

10

Committees to ensure joint support

to women in VSLA. These meetings
were meant to refresh on sharing
calculation as some groups had
problems on the same. This was one
way of minimizing disputes and
promoting fairness. A total of K590,
214, 532 (U$958,140)was shared
among members in TA Kalumbu and
Chiwere at the end of the cycle.
Distribution of agro forestry seeds:
As soil and other natural resources
continue to debase, community
members are adapting to the change
by planting trees. MAICC supported
the initiative through provision of
Agro forestry seed and planting
materials. In Dowa, rainfall patterns
has also been affected by effects
changing climate, this has been
evidenced by amount of rainfall
recorded which indicate that in
October 2014, rainfall records show
that it was 7.2mm and October
2015 it is 1.9mm.

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onitoring agricultural fields

demonstration: The project
continued monitoring fields
demonstrations preparation for this
growing season and it has been
established that communities who
have been involved in growing soya
and groundnuts including maize
have the expertise and experience to
continue doing so even after the
project phase out. The project is not
providing seed this time around but
communities are eager to source the
seeds on their own as part of
sustainability.1195 (f 680 and m 515)
additional farmers are participating
in the demonstrations
Support Household hit by heavy
rains with seed and renovation of
houses. Dowa was hit by heavy rains
in November 2015; hundreds of
people were displaced after wind
blew off roofs leaving some houses
demolished. This affected livelihood
of 60 WE-RISE beneficiaries in GVH
Nyongo. In response to the shock,
WERISE distributed legume seeds
from village seed bank which was
meant for pass-on. 60 households
have benefited (5 kgs soya and 5 kg
groundnuts), and the project has
intensified growing of sweet
potatoes, cassava, agroforestry trees
among other catchment
conservation activities.
Supporting VSLA sharing out: During
the month of November and
December was the pick of winding
up VSLA cycle which ran from
December the previous year. The
project team organized meetings
with Village Agents, Community
Development Assistants, VSLA
Cluster leadership, Zonal

Two field days were conducted in

two group village headmen Kalumbi
and Mlinga and one in GVH
Kuchitala. The main objective of the
field days were to showcase different
interventions which are taking place
in the area and also as one way of
disseminating the information of
some extension services in the area
provided by the project. The
exhibition included energy saver
stoves, nutrition, sustainable
agriculture, and also gender and HIV
awareness through drama. The FFTs
showed four plots with different
technologies like pit planting,
conservation agriculture, agroforestry and livestock production.

The findings of the MTR indicated that

traditional leaders who were trained on
gender were not actively doing their job.

It is based on this reason that the Project

organized another gender training for a
mixture of volunteers including traditional
leaders (n=60). The trained participants
are bringing change on gender including
gender based violence which impedes
development.. The main objective of the
training was to equip the participants with
the understanding and the knowledge of
gender issues which is supposed to be
shared with the community. There were
four groups which were involved in the
training. The drama group which
disseminates information through drama
(Theatre for Development), Local leaders
which were composed of men and
women, community based volunteers like
FFTs and Promoters. The mode of
delivery was through group discussions
and role plays in order to promote the
participation among the group. 6 gender
dialogue and gender based violence
sessions were organized together with
Malawi Police service under the victim
support unit
The project organized another
assertiveness training targeting all
women in ADC and VDC (n=264)to
improve the knowledge and skills for
them to be assertive in various
spheres of their lives including their
participation in development
work.This has resulted in more
women contributing to decision
making at community and
household level.
The project conducted end line
evaluation with the support of
TANGO. The project was involved
in finalizing the survey tools,
translation, hiring of enumerators
and all logistics. WE-RISE team was
not involved in the actual data
collection or being near to the sites
as recommended by the
international Consultant. Results of
the end line have been analyzed by
TANGO and refer to the findings on
Table A on the last 4 pages

11

Following the Training of 40 Village

Agents and Farmer to Farmer
Trainers in food processing
preservation and storage, in the
previous quarter. These Volunteers
rolled out the knowledge to
community members. This initiative
has seen increased knowledge and
skills among communities in WE-RISE
impact area on preservation of
vegetables, legumes, potatoes and
cassava for future use while
maintaining nutrient values.

Page

8124 (f 5780 and m 2344) were reached during gender dialogue sessions organized by male champion
clubs in TA Kalumbu and Chiwere. There is greater understanding and awareness of women about
their rights and assertion of their rights and how to access public services and public information
including issues to do with access of productive resources. Male championship model has provided a
forum for gender massages to get across to men and start acting for the betterment of their households
and the community in general.

The key lesson that could be sighted in the past year is on the Partnership amongst
the Malawi AACES NGOs. WE-RISE Malawi being part of AACES Malawi NGO
has been part of the quarterly NGO meetings to share a number of AACES
programming issues such as best practice in targeting marginalized beneficiaries,
their interventions and issues of impact measurement and communication of the
program activities to a larger Malawi community. The WERSE Program has
benefited a lot from the Malawi AACES partnership in understanding and learning
areas of targeting such as on disability part. It has also benefited in publicizing its
program by leveraging financial and human resources by conducting the launch of
the program jointly with CARITAS Malawi (CADECOM).
The design of the WE-RISE project did not target the most vulnerable (P3) as
this category requires special activities to meet their needs.
Meaningful women empowerment requires more effort as involving men and
boys is not quite easy.
Active involvement of community leaders has proved to be a viable strategy for
sustaining change
Involvement of men in women empowerment initiatives facilitates wider
understanding in the communities of the project purpose
Investing in capacity building has resulted in many positive outcomes
Female headed households score high on women empowerment index though
not fully empowered as opposed to women in male headed households

12

The project conducted cohort study in the month of November and this involved orientation, data
collection and entry. It is anticipated that positive trends shall continue to be registered as it has been
for the past years where cohort study has been conducted targeting (n=10) participants which
TANGO is responsible to do final analysis and another (n=10) which the project analyses

Page

Table A: WE-RISE Baseline to End line results

IMPACT INDICATORS

Baseline

Actual Achieved

4.9

5.2

Female headed-households

4.3

4.8

Male-headed households

5.0

5.4

4.7

5.0

Female headed-households

4.2

4.6

Male-headed households

4.9

5.1

2.8

6.4

Female headed-households

3.6

7.5

Male-headed households

2.6

6.0

10.00

10.77

Female headed-households

9.97

10.27

Male-headed households

10.01

10.99

46.1

66.0

Female headed-households

41.1

63.4

Male-headed households

47.5

67.1

65.1

86.6

Female headed-households

61.3

87.1

Male-headed households

66.2

86.3

15.37

17.75

Female headed-households

14.61

16.06

Male-headed households

18.11

18.46

84.3

83.1

Female headed-households

77.8

78.8

Male-headed households

85.9

85.0

IM 1.1:Mean household dietary diversity score

IM 1.2: Mean womens intra-household food access

IM 1.3: Coping strategies index

IM 1.4: Per capita monthly household income (farm and non-farm)

Current USD for restricted baseline and actual

IM 1.5: % households with non-agricultural income

IM 1.6:% households with three or more different income sources

IM 1.7: Per capita monthly household expenditures

Page

IM 1.8: % households with savings

13

Current USD for restricted baseline and actual

IM 1.9: Mean asset index

1697

2222

Female headed-households

1517

1944

Male-headed households

1747

2340

0.58

0.67

Women in female headed-households

0.75

0.74

Women in male-headed households

0.53

0.64

88.87

180.71

Women in female headed-households

60.75

151.88

Women in male-headed households

96.79

193.31

Total annual yield per hectare Soya

419.0

649.0

Total annual yield per hectare Groundnut

1451.3

530.5

3.0

3.1

Female headed-households

3.0

3.1

Male-headed households

3.0

3.0

29.6

34.2

Women in female headed-households

47.8

56.3

Women in male-headed households

24.5

24.9

% women adopting three or more improved agricultural practices

43.5

66.0

% women farmers adopting two or more post-harvest processes

58.2

68.6

% women adopting one or more improved storage practice

36.7

27.0

% women using one or more improved livestock practice

32.0

77.7

% women accessing agricultural inputs (seeds, fertilizers, etc.) over

the last 12 months

65.6

77.6

% women accessing output markets to sell agricultural production

over the last 12 months

31.8

51.9

% households adopting negative coping strategies in past 3 months

15.0

18.8

IM 1.10: Womens empowerment index score

Net income of women from agricultural production and/or related

processing activities

% women with access to and control over loans for IGA

Page

Productivity, Resources , and Resilience

Number of different crops grown

14

Current USD for restricted baseline and actual

22.6

Male-headed households

14.5

17.1

% women with access to agricultural extension services over last 12

months

27.4

77.5

% women accessing agricultural financial services in last 12 months

87.3

94.4

% women reporting satisfaction with agricultural extension services

91.2

93.6

% women participating in formal and informal groups

97.3

99.8

Women in female headed-households

95.7

100.0

Women in male-headed households

97.8

99.8

34.7

67.3

Women in female headed-households

32.9

66.7

Women in male-headed households

35.2

67.5

% Female respondents confident speaking in public about gender

and other community issues at the local level

45.3

74.1

% Male respondents confident speaking in public about gender and

other community issues at the local level

68.3

85.5

% women with sole or joint control over household income and

expenditures

51.7

59.5

Women in female headed-households

81.0

72.1

Women in male-headed households

43.5

54.2

53.8

75.7

Women in female headed-households

86.3

83.1

Women in male-headed households

44.9

72.6

% women reporting sole or joint decision-making over reproductive

health decisions (birth control; spacing of children)

93.4

93.9

% women holding leadership positions in formal and informal

groups

% women with sole or joint decision-making and control over 75%

or more of household assets

15

17.2

Page

Enabling Institutional Environment

Cultural and social norms and attitudes

Female headed-households

Women in female headed-households

97.0

97.0

Women in male-headed households

89.8

93.0

87.4

86.3

Women in female headed-households

98.1

90.1

Women in male-headed households

84.3

84.7

37.4

44.2

%male respondents expressing attitudes that support genderequitable roles in family life

42.7

40.4

% female respondents expressing attitudes that reject genderbased household violence

71.9

74.8

% male respondents expressing attitudes that reject gender-based

household violence

78.9

71.7

47.8

50.1

Women in female headed-households

67.5

45.4

Women in male-headed households

42.2

52.1

% women making sole or joint decisions about health care

%female respondents expressing attitudes that support genderequitable roles in family life

Womens mobility

All thanks goes to the people of TA Kalumbu and Chiwere for the successful work in the course of WE-RISE
Project implementation. The Traditional Authorities for the two Districts provided tremendous support
leading to the active participation of women. All the volunteer leaders for VSL, Farming, adult education,
Scorecard, photo story, gender, marketing, edutainment and nutrition deserve special recognition.

Page

Constance Mzungu, Project Manager for WE-RISE Project

Care Malawi, April 2016

16

Special thanks goes to DFAT for funding the program and CARE Malawi management and program
support for guidance and technical support in the implementation of the Project.
The success of the Project could have not been achieved without the hard working spirit of CARE and
MAICC staff (Constance Mzungu, Mark Black, Simeon Phiri, Rose Sikawa, Unoumusa Tembo and George
Kaunda, Richard Matope, Isaac Kadammanja from MAICC