Malawi

GOAL has been working in Malawi since 2002. We deliver programmes across five districts in the Southern Region, including Nsanje, Chikwawa , Blantyre and Machinga. GOAL also works in Dzaleka, Malawi’s principal refugee camp.

Running to an operating budget of €2.7 million in 2020, GOAL promotes resilient wellbeing by helping people to survive crises, maintain their health, build food security and grow their income. Within this, key areas of strength include: disaster risk reduction, WASH, nutrition, agricultural livelihoods, cash transfer programming and financial inclusion.

What we do in Malawi

Emergency Response

Resilient Health

Food & Nutrition Security

Sustainable Livelihoods

Covid-19 Response

Building community resilience

GOAL has a long history of responding to disasters in Malawi. In 2019, GOAL was a first responder to regional flooding – providing emergency food and non-food items to affected communities. The team also provides regular support to food insecure households by granting food and cash distributions during the lean season.

GOAL works closely with the Department of Disaster Management Affairs to strengthen Civil Protection Committee structures, support community hazard mapping and warning system development. The team use GOAL’s Analysis of Resilience in Communities to Disaster (ARC-D) toolkit to measure and analyse community resilience and plan appropriate responses. We also provide technical services to external stakeholders.

Improving WASH and sexual reproductive health

GOAL has extensive experience in the fields of WASH and sexual reproductive health.
In Malawi, WASH activities improve rural water supply and include the facilitation of water point operation/maintenance committees – as well as Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) and demand-led sanitation marketing. GOAL also promotes menstrual hygiene management for girls in school.

Our sexual and reproductive health programme focuses largely on youth. Working with young people in and out of school, we support youth-led analysis and action, promote positive behaviour change and help service providers respond to the needs of vulnerable young people. GOAL’s innovative programming also promotes a nexus between climate change and family planning.

Food security through education and livelihoods

GOAL takes an integrated approach to Food & Nutrition Security. Closely linked to Sustainable Livelihoods, we seek to diversify production, improve food access and reduce seasonal food insecurity.

We use GOAL’s innovative Nutrition Impact Positive Practices (NIPP) Approach to tackle the underlying causes of malnutrition at a community level, through behaviour change and practical action including micro-gardening and cooking demonstrations. GOAL works in close collaboration with Village Health Committees and Health Surveillance Assistants, as well as training families and caregivers to screen their children for malnutrition using simple MUAC (Mid Upper Arm Circumference) measuring tapes, thereby enhancing early detection of malnutrition cases.

Building business skills and maximising value

Building on our work in Nutrition & Food Security, GOAL supports resilience-building efforts that range from diversified cropping and small-scale irrigation to capacity building for climate smart agriculture. The team also links farmers with weather information systems for improved subsistence planning, as well as facilitating watershed management, resource conservation and enterprise development.

GOAL is also looking to strengthen agricultural and livestock value chains - and are currently exploring new opportunities in moringa. We help individuals build financial literacy and business management skills, linking them to informal and formal financial services to build long-term economic security.

GOAL's Covid-19 response in Malawi

In Malawi, we have been implementing Covid-19 response activity across the country, working closely with Government and other humanitarian actors engaged in the response. We have procured a range of protective materials, together with key sanitation items, and distributed these to health facilities and targeted households/communities.

GOAL has supported the Magoti Mothers’ group in Nsanje District in southern Malawi to expand its sewing circle to start making reusable health masks. The group – which currently sews reusable sanitary pads for disadvantaged teenage girls – plan to make 700 masks, 300 of which will be purchased by GOAL. This enterprise will be an extra income stream for the women who are struggling to make ends meet.

Key achievements

GOAL Malawi reached an estimated 2.3 million people with COVID-19 messages and interventions during 2020.
At the end of 2020, GOAL Malawi facilitated the distribution of food to 15,041 food insecure households across rural Blantyre in partnership with the World Food Programme.
In 2020, GOAL Malawi continued to promote and strengthen Youth Friendly Health Services in 14 communities across Machinga and Nsanje districts. This included the facilitation of discussions between service providers, youth representatives and community-based leaders on issues that affect young people, such as the availability of family planning services and the perceptions of parents towards youth accessing family planning.
In 2020, GOAL Malawi formed 20 new Nutrition Impact Positive Practices (NIPP) groups to address the underlying causes of malnutrition, including in the groups 61 men and 221 women.
GOAL Malawi trained 12,567 caregivers in 2020 to use the ‘Family MUAC’ method to screen their own children for malnutrition and seek early treatment if needed.
In 2020, GOAL continued to work with a cohort of 1,230 lead farmers (750 male and 480 female), who in turn reached over 14,000 farmers across Nsanje, Chikwawa and Machinga districts with key messaging on climate smart agriculture and new farming technologies.
Under the UNFPA-funded Spotlight Initiative, GOAL engaged 3,340 adolescent girls and young women in a mentorship programme which aims to eliminate violence against women and girls, including sexual gender-based violence. Also under this intervention, 90 ‘safe spaces’ were established, where adolescent girls and young women can meet to discuss issues that affect them.