with the growing reality of food shortages throughout the world countries are implementing their best efforts to ensure that people in their countries have enough food.

several initiatives have been established to advocate for good food prices and strategies that will ensure that people world wide have access to enough food. of of such initiatives if the 1 billion Hungry initiative to which i am a huge supporter. i have also contributed to a lot of blogs and articles discussing at leangth at what needs to be done to ensure that people have enough food.

our country malawi, in one of our efforts to ensure food security introduced the fertilizer subsidy to smallholder farmers to ensure increased food production. however, altough the country registered bumper yields in maize production, malawi was still ranked lowest in food security country index. why? what went wrong?

to my understanding there are a few issues that need to be understood and considered seriously in our food security campaigns.

firstly we need to understand what food security entails. because producing more food alone does not ensure food security. for example the fertilizer subsidy only applied to maize. that is only one food crop. what ablout farmers who dont grow maize? what about areas where maize does not work well? what about the protein for the bumper carbohydrates produced.

secondly, food security is hugely influenced by other economic factors. it was noted that farmers who produced more maize, some more than enough food for their families... sold their food to access basic needs like medicines, school fees, relish and clothes. in the end they ended up not having enough food to last them the whole year. therefore increased food production alone where other economic conditions are not favourable dose not necessarilty ensure food security.

thirdly food security is also greatly dependent on farmers skills, access to knowledge, adaptability and access to support structures. sometimes farmers are not food secure because they continue to grow crops that are not conduncive for their environment. sometimes its because they dont have the skill to access good agro markets, negotiate good prices and produce crops that are marketable. and most farmers are also food insecure because they are very prone to natural disasters like climate change, droughts and floods.

therefore, i really believe that food security efforts should be implemented through strategies that are geographically specific, should consider other influencing factors apart from low food production, should be implemented as a holistic aproach and more importanlty should adress root causes of food insecurity which include lack of skills and basic need among food producers.

our country Malawi is currently going through political and government instability. as a background, our current president is in his second term of office. during his first term, he had a very small marjority in parliament and his government had very difficult challanges in implementing their policies. before his term of office, the major problem in malawi was food insecurity. so during his first term of office, he introduced subsidised farm inputs an managed to make our country food secure. he received many awards for this achievement. but because he had a small marjority in parliament, the members of parliament made the passing of the national budget and passing of many bills very difficult. therefore people were very sympathetic of him therefore when he was running for the next term in office people gave him the biggest marjority ever attined in any elections in malawi. soon after attaining this marjority, the problems started almost immediately. the government and its parliament started to abuse its marjority and passed bills that were very unpopular with malawians. a few of the bills passed were 1) they changed the malawian flag without any consutations 2)they passed a bill that controls media freedom 3) they deported the British ambassodor 4) they privatised the importation of fuel 5) they closed all the forex exchange bereus 6) they introduced a budget that had very heavy taxes on poor malawians and on basic food items like milk... 6) they closed all the universities and fired lectures who were believed to be teaching violence... the president lost donor confidence and najor foreign aid donors started to pull out of the country... different organisations, civil societies and religious entities started to condemn him about his poor governance but the president persisted in implementing policies that were very unpopular with malawians.. after almost two years fo this tenedncy the president grew even more arrogant and showed no possibility of hearing any advice. in his public adresses and speaches he repeatedly said... he is incharge and no one can tell him what to do.. he threated opposision leaders and anyone who dared oppose him and say anything contrary to his views. as the unsatisfaction grew various opposition parties tried to stage demonstrations but were not allowed by the police.. the government introduced a non-refundable fee of K2million for anyone wishing to demonstrate against the government.. they also approved a bill which banned all court injuctions against the government decesions.. however on the 20th of July, the civil society organisations managed to organise public demonstrations against the government.. they fullfilled all the requirements but on the morning of the actual demonstrations it was discovered that someone has taken a court injunction... the demonstrators stayed peacefully in the streets because the organisers assured them that the injunction will be lifted.. however by mid afternoon the people in the streets started to grow impatient and started walking regardless of the injuction... by late afternoon the peacefull demonstration crowd turned into a protesting crowd and started the riots. bussinesses linked to the government wre rooted and some basic groceries shops were rooted as well. a total of 9 people were killed by the police national wide during the two day demonstrations.

therefore to my understanding the demonstrations are basically peoples dissatisfaction of our leadership and governance style. i think that we do not have strong governance structures that can influence our governance issues. as long as the president has a marjority in parliament, he has absolute powers to do whatever he wants for 5 years. our parliamenterians do not do what their constituents want

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MBUTO IN THEATRE FOR PEACE
Mbuto Living Theatre is performing in the disaster hit district of Karonga. Karonga was hit by earthquake last year and floods this year. According to the Director of the group Dennis Kumwenda the group came up with this programme as a way of promoting peace. He said disasters create frustration and bitterness in affected people resulting into violence in households and the community. Mbuto believes the theatre will help to relieve emotions and help the people to face the challenge creatively. The programme is funded by the group itself. However, the group is appealing for funds so that all affected people are reached.

this animal called academic freedom has forced me to be out of xool for close to a month now. reason being that the leadership that be is failing to accept to give aasurance of the existent of this non-limited right. kaya zitha bwanji

The TPA process in Sokelele Village, T.A. Chadza in Lilongwe District began with a community briefing. The community was briefed on the project goals, objectives, activities and expected outcomes. During the briefing, it was emphasized how relevant the project is to the community. With more than 70% of the community’s households being Female Headed, the project would be developmentally beneficial to the community and them as individuals.

Firstly the TPA facilitators selected interested individuals to be participants of the TPA drama group. The selection ensured that people from all sections of the community (i.e. the youth, the elderly, men and women) were included in the group. A total of 23 people actively participated in the training and performance of the TPA for a total of Five days.

After the selection the group conducted a series of Focus Group Discussions. In these discussions real issues on root causes of the problems, case studies and impact of the issues on the community development were explored. In Sokelele village it was discovered that the main challenges being faced by subsistence women farmers include: lack and therefore expensive agricultural inputs, lack of land ownership and lack of effective agricultural extension services. The group was also challenged to critically discover, analyze and debate on conflicting ideas, view points and behavior motivators.

Following these discussions, the group was therefore equipped and tasked to conduct interviews (i.e. research) in the community on the real issues affecting women small holder farmers. This exercise ensured that the group is well conversant with issues affecting the whole community. The research enabled the TPA group to source ideas from people which might not be available or won’t participate during the TPA performance.

During this exercise the group discovers real issues, real people being targeted by the issues to be addressed. They also meet real life characters being affected and or proliferating the root causes of the issues being explored. The outstanding case study/ story in Sokelele village was about a divorced woman with three grown up children whom after coming back from her ex-husband’s village, has been living for the past three years without a piece of land since back in the village no one is willing to give her a piece of field.

In her story Ida Pofera said “I seem like a person without a home. Because at my husbands’ village they said I belong here & I have no land there… back here they say I don’t have land either because I am supposed to be at my husbands village… so where do I really belong?” she lamented.

Equipped with this information, the group then created a story that best portrayed the issues the community is facing in terms of women small holder farmers. It is from this story a play is developed. The play forms the basis of the TPA performance. The play was based on two prominent issues faced by women subsistence farmers: lack of land ownership and lack of access to input markets.

The first scene portrayed a widowed woman who is having problems to support her family of five after her late husband’s relatives had seized her best farmlands.

In the second scene, a married woman is arguing with her husband about his lack of support in food farming, his habit of personally using all their money from produce sales and disregarding family needs but most importantly because he has sold the coupon for obtaining government subsidized inputs and using the money for beer.

In a turn of events the women coincidently meet at a water borehole and discuss issues affecting their progress in farming. They discuss that the issues they are facing in their families contribute to women retardation in farming business. Other women also explain that even with an access to farm inputs: low literacy levels, poor exposure to good produce markets and lack of effective agricultural women oriented policies also contribute to poor progress in women subsistent farmers.

Concluding the discussion one woman asks “but where can we report all these issues? Who can listen?” the community audience informs the woman that to the best of their knowledge; there are no structures/authorities or laws who can address those issues.

In the final scene, things have gone from bad to worse in the married couples’ home. A debt collector has come to collect some money from the wife who got the credit on the basis that the husband will pay after receiving money from their tobacco sales. The husband became so furious because he has used all the money. He beats the wife so much that the community and intervened and took them to the chiefs court to resolve their issues.

The performance was staged before an audience of all stakeholders identified as policy holders, traditional local authorities and the community. In Sokelere we had the areas T.A, District Commissioners’ representative, The Director of Planning & Development, the District Agricultural Director, The Member of Parliament and representatives from NASFARM, Bunda Collage and ADMARK. Through out the performance the audience was engaged in a dialogue by the actors. Through the dialogue, the actors verified with the audience whether issues portrayed in the play occur in real life. The audience provides guidance to the actors on how to act or react in particular circumstances. The community leaders presented the cultural justification on some behaviors by the characters in the play.


Immediately after the play, the audience was engaged in a discussion based on the issues highlighted in the TPA performance.

The Policy makers were motivated to advocate for Policy reforms to address the issues highlighted by the community. Local leaders were sensitized on the issues affecting women farmers and encouraged to make decisions guided by these concerns. The community was also motivated to take a leading role in resolving their own problems and initiating dialogue with relevant influential stakeholders.

In response to questions presented by community women in regards to land issues, the MP of the area, Mr. Kamanga informed the audience that the parliament will in the November 2010 house discuss an inheritance Bill that will resolve some of the issues concerning land and property grabbing faced by widows. He therefore promised to support that bill. This earned high jubilations from the women.

The officials from the district agricultural office also informed the people on the proper selection, distribution and use of Government subsidized input coupons.
In response to the challenges face by women in their utilization, community leaders were encouraged to address those issues as criminal.


By the end of the performance the community had utilized a forum where all policy stakeholders were available to address all their preponderant issues.

Most importantly, women were empowered to voice out their views to relevant authorities in a culturally acceptable and effective way. In her concluding remarks a woman advocate trained by NASFARM based in the village commended all the stakeholders present in the discussion and informed them that it is from these kind of discussions that good agricultural policies should be developed because they will truly reflect and be beneficial to the needs of women subsistence farmers who form more then 80% of subsistence farmers in Malawi.

Based on these discussions, action plans were developed and all stakeholders were tasked to ensure that they are fulfilled. The community was given reference points and relevant officials to refer to, when faced which challenges discussed in this forum.

THEATRE FOR DEVELOPMENT

Chidzinja village, T.A. Mkanda. Thyolo district.

A Report compiled by TAKONDWA KALIWO

INTRODUCTION
Theatre still remains one of the most common medium of communication among the rural communities in Malawi. In Thyolo, a group of young people from Chidzinja village have been using drama performances to sensitize their community on various cultural and social-economic issues. During the Food Security festival implemented in the village, these young people were trained in Theatre for Development and how they can use it to sensitize their community and other surrounding villages on food security related issues. This report, gives a detailed account on how the training sessions were implemented and how this group of young men and women were motivated to form a drama club that will conduct developmental theatre performances. This activity was part of the food security festival in the village under the Mwana alirenji project.
OUTLINE OF ACTIVITIES
I. THEATRE FOR DEVELOPMENT TRAINING
From the village briefing session about the project goals, objectives and activity descriptions: people who were interested in theatre training were selected and briefed about the role of theatre in the Mwana Alirenji project. The first three days of the training were concentrated on training the participants on various issues about the project and its implementation including but not exclusive to topics like: Project duration, donors, goals, objectives and outcomes. They were also trained on the role of theatre for development within the project and its relation to all other project activities. Finally the topic of other cross cutting issues that need to be addressed in the quest for food security was also emphasized.
From this training, the group was split into micro working groups where using the research skills and project information they have acquired were tasked to create theatre for development play which would be very relevant in their community.
Through focus group discussions the group came up with the following play:
II. STORY LINE CREATION AND PLAY DEVELOPMENT
The synopsis of the play at Chidzinja village was the following:
A family of six in Chidzinja village had a small plot of land which they inherited from their parents. All their needs, food, basic necessities, relied on the produce of this land. Although the piece of land was infertile and produced a little harvest, the family had no other source of income so they resolved into selling the little that they harvested. Every year the family experienced food shortages. One day, when the family was going through extreme food shortage and other food insecurity related effects, the father of the house went to steal trees from a nearby estate to sell and support his family. Unfortunately, the estate guard caught him and his case was resolved in a forum where it was discovered that, the man’s main reason for stealing was due to the food insecurity in his household. Hence the forum with technical advice from the agricultural assistant and food security experts advised him on how make manure for his field, crop and diet diversification as some of the strategies toward food security. The family implemented all the experts trained them and a few years later they become one of Mwana alirenji model families in Chidzinja village.
From this story, the group created a theatre for development play that portrayed the root cause of food insecurity in their community and how it can be resolved. The first scene showed the root cause of food insecurity in their community which was soil infertility, small farm land and lack of food budgeting. In the second scene the play showed the effects of these root causes which can be sickness, theft and poverty. The following scene concentrated on how to resolve these challenges which is by community and stakeholder involvement in food security issues. The last scene of the performance which was a mime showed how an ideal food secure family can be achieved to motivate the viewers to implement the ideals proposed in the play.

III. REHERSALS AND PERFOMANCE
Having developed the play the group rehearsed the play using the theatre for development skills like miming, interaction with the audience and clarification of facts and ideas presented in the play. Traditional songs and typical community characters were used the performance to enhance the meaning of the play and imitate the real life scenarios of the community.
The performance was staged before an audience estimated to be over 2000 people. Authorities present during the performance included: one representative from the District commissioners office, the District Development director, the district agricultural officers, the district information officer, representative of the traditional authority, the group village headman and not less than ten village headmen.
The play was very interactive and the audience participated very well throughout the performance. Most people from the audience verified that the play truly depicted their real life situation and that the characters in the play were common characters in the village. Because of the plays relevance to the communities’ situation the audience listened attentively as the various agriculture and Story Workshop experts informed the audience on how they can strategize to improve their households into food secure ones.
By the end of the performance the audience was sensitized on how to make organic manure to improve soil fertility in their infertile farms, the importance of crop and diet diversification in the pursuit for food security, food budgeting and the importance of collective community action in food security issues.
The audience was also motivated through the various committees formed to develop and implement action plans towards the achievement of their food security goal. Various speeches by the government officials delivered as part of the performance also motivated the community to view the achievement of the project goals as a social-economic development requirement.
IV. DEVELOPMENT OF ACTION PLANS
After the training and the performance, this group of young women and men resolved to make an action plan to guide their performances for the next 6 months. Since most of the people in the group had an experience already in drama it was easier for them to form a village drama club. The group selected a main committee and developed a work plan. They agreed to meet every fortnight on Sunday afternoons at 14 hours. They also planned to have at least one theater for development performance once a month.
Their following meeting was planned for the following Sunday. The agenda for that meeting included setting a constitution for their club and strategizing on how they will source materials needed for their upcoming performances.
CHALLENGES AND MITIGATION STRATEGIES
There were no notable challenges in Chidzinja village in the Theatre for Development training and performance implementation. The participants had some drama performance knowledge prior to the training; as such the concept of using theatre for development was not alien to them. The fact that most of the members of the club already performed drama for other purposes, it was ideal to use the same concept and motivate them to use the same skills for the achievement of the project outcomes in their community.
CONCLUNSION
From this analysis, it can be clearly said that the Theatre for Development component of the Mwana alirenji village festival in Chidzinja village was very successful. The activity trained a total of 20 young me and women in theatre for development and the group performed a brilliant performance during the food security festival in the village. The performance ably sensitized and motivated the people from the village and other surrounding villages and how best they can solve the problems that cause them to be food insecure. With the drama club formed in the village at the end of the activity, which has been motivated to perform food security related performances in the village; it is palpable that Chidzinja village has taken the first step towards food security.

MWANA ALIRENJI PROJECT



MCHINJI DISTRICT FOOD SECURITY FESTIVAL

CHIMOMBO VILLAGE
T. A. MKANDA

REPORT COMPILED BY TAKONDWA KALIWO
(COMMUNITY MOBILIZATION OFFICER)



INTRODUCTION
Story Workshop with the funding from the European Union is conducting 78 food security festivals in 78 villages in several districts in Malawi. These food security festivals are activities that target local community members as participants of the activities selected from the food security menu so as to encourage them to sustainably use their resources and be aware of their own potential. The community members are mobilized and sensitized on the current social, agricultural and environmental causes of food insecurity in their community and the effects of food shortage in their community. These people are trained on how to overcome the root causes of food shortage. Though people need support, they do not need it in the form of relief and welfare, because these undermine self initiative, self dignity and encourage a recipient mentality.
This report will give a detailed account of the food security festival that occurred from 2ND TO 7TH JUNE 2010 in Chimombo Village, Traditional Authority Mkanda, and Group Village Headman Kawere in Mchinji District. The Village has a total number of about 50 farming households.
The festival started with a briefing session where the community was briefed on the projects objectives, activities, time frame and outcome. The main root cause of food insecurity in the village was poor farming methods and poor food budgeting which made the people in the village to harvest less food and food gaps during the year.
After orienting the community about the project goals and activities, the community was mobilized to participate in various project activities/components where they would train various methodologies on how best they can resolve food insecurity in their households. The first four days of the festival were concentrated on training the participants of the activity on how that particular activity would ensure that they implement actions that will encourage them to produce and use food sustainably. The final day of the festival was an open day where all members from all the Mwana Alirenji components showcased and presented whatever they had learnt to an audience that included the areas Traditional Authority and District Commissioner.
Below are activity reports about the various Mwana Alirenji components and how they were implemented to ensure that the challenges which the people of Chimombo village face in regards to food security are resolved.




Community Kitchen
The aim of this community kitchen component of Mwana Alirenji project was to combat food insecurity through diet and crop diversification. The practice result in increased food availability at household level and to promote healthy diet and health living.
36 women participated in the community kitchen which involves the following activities:
Training on diet diversification: The participants were taken through on process of identifying and listing of locally grown food crops in the area. And about 10 different food crops were known to be grown in the area. The list includes sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes, pumpkins, cassava. Other food stuffs include Rice, green bananas, yams etc. Each food item was later discussed to find out why it is not regarded as real food just like nsima which is the staple food in the area. Finally it was agreed that because of poor preparation of these other food crops and the fact that people are so much used to nsima as a staple food is the reason why other food crops are not taken seriously.
Nutrition Training: participants were later trained on six food groups which are;
• Satisfying food group that plays an energy giving function
• A beans group that play a body building and tissue repair
• Meat group functions as the beans group
• Vegetable group play a disease protection and forming new blood cells
• Fruit group functions the vegetable group
• Fat group for energy giving and warmth of the body.
All these groups were discussed in detail and examples given. Every participant was able to understand and explain the six food groups, their functions as well as examples.
The group was later divided into 6 small groups of 6 members and each group was assigned to prepare a balanced meal of locally available food crops excluding nsima from maize. Thus each group was to prepare an alternative food to replace nsima in so doing encouraging diet diversification. The following food items were chosen: sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes, pumpkins, and cassava, Rice and green bananas. In addition group members were let to choose other food items that will make the balanced die (with all six food groups) for their practising and testing. A group leader was elected in each and every group.
Sourcing of food items and utensils
All food items were bought by Story Workshop from within the village and other surrounding areas. The participants were responsible for collecting firewood, fetching water and also provision of cooking utensils.
Each group was guided and recipe provided for preparation of the food items assigned.
Cooking practises and Testing
The group prepared enough food for testing. All the food security festival participants participated in the testing and appreciation of the taste as well as satisfaction that the food gave.
Final day presentations
The group prepared enough food for the entire village. And each group prepared a sample meal (plate) which was used to showcase their acquired skills as well used as an educative tool for audience to better learn the balanced meal. After displaying the prepared food samples to the wider audience who attended the festival, part of the audience particularly high table guests which included the District Commissioner for Mchinji, Traditional Authority Mkanda and many other dignitaries tested the food.
Action plan
The community kitchen participants finally made an action plan on how they would proceed with their Mwana Alirenji activities. This plan will be used to measure project activity progress and a basis of our monitoring and evaluation.
BEAUTIFICATION AND HYGIENIC ACTIVITIES
The goal of this component is to enhance the quality of life for the communities through cleaning up of the surroundings. It aims at educating to the communities to keep their surrounding beautiful and clean.
OBJECTIVES
The objective of this component is to help the communities to understand the importance of living in a health surrounding.
ACTIVITIES: the beautification and hygiene component of the Mwana Alirenji food security festival in chimombo village carried out the following activities to ensure that the participants of this activity as well as the whole community would live a healthy life and ensure a healthy life as a step towards attaining food security.
The activities included:
o Formation of village health committee.
o Training on hygiene and hygienic tools and how hygiene and food security are related.
o Training on construction of a simple hand washing facility.
o Practice on household beautification.
o Village beautification
o Action plan development.

The activity brought the participatory approach method as a way of implementing al the said tasks. The community members were first given the opportunity to understand the whole concept. After the committee was put in place, members also took part in the painting and decorating process.
Initially 15 community members, volunteered to be part of a Village health committee as days passed by the number rose to 27.

A demonstration of the hand washing facility

TRAINING ON HYGIENE AND HYIENIC TOOLS
The Health surveillance Assistance [H.S.A] for the area, took a leading role in orienting the committee on a household sanitation. The following tools were discussed in detail and how they enhance household, body and food hygiene, pit latrine hands washing facility, [tip tape] kitchen, bath shelter, dish lack, drying lines; refuse pit, 2cap system, water chlorination, and proper storage.
The committee was also trained on construction of hands washing facility to promote household hygiene. The sample of the hand washing facility was also shown and demonstrated during the open day food security festival day.
The exercise started with demonstrating painting on the Village headman’s house. This then was followed by members subdividing into small groups and beautifying the whole Village more especially in households that were showing interest by participating in Mwana Alirenji food security activities.

ACHIEVEMENTS
The participants were grouped into small working groups of the all participants. This made the beautification exercise easier and quick. Slow learners were able to learn from the fast learners and every member was able to understand the role of village beautification in the food security project. There was appreciation from the whole community as people saw the objectives of the whole activity. By the end of the activity, the Mwana Alirenji project also managed to set up a community health committee which is composed of 27 members, and has also developed an action plan of six months.

CHALLENGES
 During the first days there was low participation
 Some people wanted their houses to be painted inside.
 Non participants were also demanding their homes to be painted.
There is need to emphasize on other hygienic practice at a household than just painting, for example, hands washing facilities and rubbish pits.
DRAWING WORKSHOP
Drawing workshop by children was among other activities which targeted the children of the ages between 10 to 15 years in chimombo village during the food security festival. The Children expressed their presentations to the whole village mainly on gender equity and the balancing up of work done in their household.
OBJECTIVES
The main objective of the activity was to orient the children on the roles of their mother and father and how the discrepancies in these roles have an effect in the food security of the household. As agents of change, the children were encouraged to challenge the gender inequalities that exist in their community and create a debate that would facilitate the change in these domestic and social roles of men and women, girls and boys.
The activity started with the selection of the participants. On this day children were introduced to the objectives of the project, their roles as children and were also informed on how Mwana Alirenji is related to the Children’s workshop. It was challenging maintain clever active children in Chimombo village due to the school classes which were also in progress, so though we had 14 children but at the end of the whole rehearsals we left with only 8.
We had training on the songs and a play to be performed on the festive day with the children. They were trained on the songs which were relevant to Mwana Alirenji concept which talked about the differences in men’s and women’s working day;
Food Security: The first lesson involved mentioning food crops in their area and the following were mentioned as food crops found in their area and how they are sourced. And the food crops included: Maize, Millet, Cassava, Sweet potatoes, Bananas and Irish potatoes. These food are mostly sourced from their farm lands or bought in local markets. This lesson led to the discussion on who is responsible for finding these food stuffs. The discussion on the roles of men and women followed.

ROLES OF PARENTS: The following were singled out as activities that men do:
Farming, Moulding bricks, Building, Thatching houses, Digging pits and Making planks
And the following were mentioned as activities that women do:
Cooking, Pounding, Sweeping the Floor, smearing, Gathering firewood, cleaning kitchen utensils, Washing, Drawing water, Farming, Raising children and Sourcing relish

The puppet show
From the lessons and discussions the children had, the following puppet play was developed and performed during the food security festival open day.
Parents leaving together to the farm force their son to go to school and their daughter to be absent from school and help in household chores. The Mother complained about the work she has and decided to delegate some of the household chores to her daughter. The girl child complained that she wants to go to school and does not want to miss classes but mother insisted that she should do the chores and go to school tomorrow. Mother and father left for the field.
Brother returns from school, he finds her sister still doing the household chores and he asked for his food. The sister said food is not ready and asked him to help her with the cleaning of dishes. The boy neglect and said cleaning up of dishes is a feminine work and as such cannot do it. The boy left the house for football and demanded to find food when he comes back.
The performance ended with a plea to the audience to discuss the gender roles portrayed in the play and how relevant they are in their households and the effect they have on food security.
The community participated greatly in the debate that was posed on them after the puppet show. And it is worth noting that all the children participated in the children’s workshop. However, it was not possible to involve all the kids in the puppet show.
There was clear and substantial and collaborative evidence that the audience was entertained, especially the loud chuckles of laughter and clapping of hands clearly indicated that the audience were following the puppet show with keen interest as evidenced by the way they were giving out suggestions on the debate. Through this activity, the community sensitized on how best they can contribute to their quest for food security

However, owing to their low literacy levels Children at Chimombo took time to cope in comparison to the children of other targeted village who were of the same age group but were in upper classes. We had a problem at first because the village was divided in two due to the misunderstanding in Chieftainship so we had few people came on the first day.
Finally, the drawing workshop for children was successfully done and the children performed wonderfully. Children were able to outline roles of their parents, food crops in their village and how they impact the food insecurity in their community. They also developed their artistic skills in the puppet show and this presentation generated discussion among parents where they were able to discuss their roles and how best they can do to improve their community.
a lot of children were interested in joining the children’s workshop but because of insufficient materials, it was not possible to involve more children. I therefore, suggest that, if we could increase a number of children so as to attract their attention easily.
Farmer to Farmer Training
Chimombo village in traditional authority Mkanda identified soil degradation as a major problem. Because of this problem they were blaming shortage of inputs as their major problem. This challenge required that we needed a farmer who can teach them how to find inputs like fertilizer on a Zero cost. Therefore, we found a farmer who knows how to make organic manure from Nkanda village. The farmer, Mr Mvula taught them how to make manure in the pit. This is manure which he taught is made from crops residues, animal droppings and ashes.
In addition to this, the farmers were very happy with the more nutritious and easy to carry types of manure which Mwana Alirenji reporter Glad son Makowa taught them. These are Mazolo manure and Matumbo manure. Mazolo manure is made from chickens droppings four measures pound and mixed with two parts of agro forestry species leaves and one measure ashes. Matumbo manure is simply made by mixing three measures of water with two parts of animal droppings and preferably goats’ droppings.
Apart from this training, the farmers were also trained on how to make 448 bio-insecticide. This insecticide is homemade and is made from itchy, bitter and stinky plants. They are required to collect three kilograms of each group, pound them and add water of five litres in each. Afterward they can mix getting 4 measures of itchy, 4 measures of stinky and 8 measures of better plants concoction. This was made together with them. Some of them who had gardens they took these and applied in their gardens and they testified that the chemical indeed worked.
Theatre for Development
On the first day of activities the concept of using theatre to address developmental issues was introduced to the whole village during a community meeting. Community members who were interested in learning drama skills were encouraged to join this group. More than 20 community members from the village enrolled for drama training and had theatre for development training for four days and a performance on the firth day.
Training and play development: During the training the participants were mainly trained on: the use of theatre, basics about theatre for development, concepts of theatre for development, how to use theatre as a tool for advocacy and sensitization, storyline creation and play development, how to monitor impact, how to write performance reports, how to develop, act, direct, assess and monitor developmental oriented plays, group dynamics and management and finally theatre as a tool for sensitizing food security issues.
After the training the participants developed a story based in chimombo village focusing on food security. The story portrayed a problem preponderant in the village (which is the need for new innovative ways of improving soil fertility as a means of achieving food security), its root cause, its solution and benefits of solving the problem. Based on the story, the group developed a theatre for development play which they performed on the Mwana Alirenji festival open day along with other festival activities.
A family with four children had a bumper yield four years ago. Because the food was plenty, the family used to eat a lot of food per meal and did not manage their harvest properly. Unfortunately the food only lasted for less than four months and the family had nothing to eat. They experienced extreme shortage of food, the children dropped away from school and some fell ill. One day the husband decided to steal some maize from his neighbour’s granary to solve his family’s problems. He was caught and arrested. The village chief intervened, resolved their issues by encouraging them to properly manage their harvest, grow and eat diversified meals, grow drought resistant crops for food and selling, practice irrigation farming and send all the children back to school. The family adopted all those instructions and they are now a happy food secure family in Chimombo.
REHERSALS AND PERFOMANCE
After developing the play the group rehearsed the play for two full days. Concepts of theatre for development like miming, open ups and interaction were explored and internalized.
The performance was done on an open forum space. The audience consisted of the whole community, government officials, traditional leaders and other media practitioners.
The play was properly performed, the actors were in character, the songs and dances truly reflected the communities’ culture and the audience were able to follow what the actors were trying to communicate.
The audience was sensitized that food security is not only achieved by producing more food but also by managing the current food, by eating diversified meals, by doing irrigation farming and by keeping livestock. The audience was also mobilized to adopt food security strategies like irrigation farming to ensure that they have food secure households.

Theatre for development Actors in Action

ACTION PLANS: After the performance the group elected their committee and developed an action plan on how they are going to implement the skills they have learnt in this course for the next 6 months.
No critical challenges were observed in Chimombo village in the Theatre for Development training and performance. However in the upcoming performances it would be ideal to have more youth participants and those who are already in the drama clubs so that they will have a sustainable drama club.
Therefore, the Theatre for Development activities in Chimombo village was very successful. The group was able to sensitize their community on how best they can use irrigation farming, food budgeting and diet diversification as some strategies they can employ to achieve food security. The group was also able to form a drama club that is aimed at sensitizing the community and other surrounding villages on issues surrounding food security.
VIDEO DOCUMENTARY AND RADIO PROGRAM RECORDING
The open day of the food security festival in Chimombo village was finalised with the showing of the video documentary and the recording of the Mwana Alirenji radio program in the village. The video documentary was especially produced for chimombo village. It showed solutions to their problem of lack of innovative ideas of improving soil fertility. The documentary complimented the farmer to farmer component by showing other organic manure developed by local farmers in other areas. The documentary, which used the local farmers themselves narrating their problems, provided expert solutions to their food insecurity challenges.
The radio program also recorded and broadcasted the Chimombo food security experience on the Mwana Alirenji weekly program for other farmers and listeners whose villages are not directly targeted. With the organic manure knowledge and all the innovative ideas broadcasted on the radio program a lot of farmers would benefit from the Mwana Alirenji food security festival implemented in chimombo village.

CONCLUNSION
Therefore, the food security festival in Chimombo Village was very successful. In their remarks during the open day the District Commissioner and the Traditional Authority commended the Story Workshop, especially the European Union for initiating the Mwana Alirenji project. The D.C emphasised that the project is very relevant to government initiatives in facilitating rural development. The T.A encouraged the people from chimombo village to implement the action plans they have developed to share the skills they have gained from this intervention with people from the surrounding villages. As such, the people in chimombo village were tasked to ensure that they are taking the initiative role in eradicating the root causes of food insecurity in their community.

I am a 24 years old young woman currently working with a local media NGO which works with rural communities on the issues of HIV/Aids, Food security and Community development. I have a Bachelors degree in Arts humanities with majors in Sociology and Theatre.
I am motivated by the ability of people who are able to improve their social status when motivated to change their social values and norms by proper sensitization. I therefore believe that the rural communities have all the indigenous knowledge and skills to live successful development oriented lives if rural development experts implement the right strategies and use the proper communication channels.
i has worked for more than seven years with local NGO’s on issues of HIV/Aids, Gender and Youth participation in Development. i has also initiated a Youth Led Organization called Youth in Development network which is aimed at using Youth oriented, developed and implemented programs that will target all the youth to actively motivate them to participate in sustainable development.
i is a member of the Global Youth Coalition Against HIV/Aids (GYCA), Youth Coalition against Aids. I am also a Fellow of Moremi Initiative (for young African women leaders) and Oxfam International (for Young upcoming global leaders) and other international youth global networks including Taking it Global. Because i believe that if the youth are influential in the development initiatives governments or international agencies implement, and unless we have an influence in those forums can the programs initiated truly reflect the need of the communities.
As such I believe that my participation at the global networks and globalization efforts will truly impact the way I interact with the youth I work with, the way I will influence the debates tabled in our country and the way I initiate programs regarding to youth participation in our country through the programs I work on. But most importantly these forums will enable me to be part of a forum where youth from other backgrounds and with different perceptive and experiences about particular issues respond to the challenges we face as the youth in Malawi. This interaction will greatly improve the way I work and the impact I make on the Community mobilization Programs I work on.
Therefore my participation during the in global forums and networks will not only broaden my perspective towards youth issues and governance ideals in our country but it will also help me and the youth I interact with, to properly implement strategies and programs that will positively impact youth participation in our country. My participation in these globalization issues will also positively help me by placing me in a global network of young people currently working on Youth issues. Through this interaction, we will share and learn how best as young people we can contribute to the development of our countries by implementing programs that benefit everyone.
Please visit my website at http://profiles.tigweb.org/takondwa for more information about some of the projects I am involved in, some of the articles I have authored and the community work I am currently working on.

23 April 2010
Blantyre
MALAWI

Dear Takondwa Kaliwo,

Official Letter of Selection to Oxfam International Youth Partnerships 2010 – 2013 Program

CONGRATULATIONS! You have been selected to be an Action Partner in the Oxfam International Youth Partnerships (OIYP) 2010 - 2013 Program. As a first step to this program, you are invited to attend OIYP Kaleidoscope 2010 in New Delhi, India, to be held from the 21st to the 29th of November 2010.

We received over 1600 applications from 127 countries around the world for OIYP 2010 - 2013. All were considered through a detailed selection process. You have been chosen for your experience, vision and commitment to working with others in your community to address injustice.

OIYP is an initiative of Oxfam International, aimed at supporting you and your work for social change. Through the OIYP Program, you will join a global network of young people working to make a difference. Over the next three years, you will have opportunities to develop skills and knowledge, to meet other young people in the OIYP Network and to gain support for your work in your community.

To begin the three-year program, Oxfam will bring 300 young leaders together for OIYP Kaleidoscope 2010. This is an eight-day, face-to-face event hosted by Oxfam Australia and Oxfam India to be held in New Delhi, India. During OIYP Kaleidoscope 2010, you will have opportunities to meet other young people working for positive and sustainable change, as well as develop your skills, knowledge and networks and to plan for future action in your community.

Good luck for your preparations over the coming months. We welcome you to the Oxfam International Youth Partnerships network, and we look forward to welcoming you to New Delhi on 21st November 2010!

Yours sincerely,

Patty Veliz

OIYP Coordinator

Oxfam International Youth Partnerships

At Corporate Media we are taking a step further into the field of rural development. Most NGO’s implementing rural development initiatives are either completely community mobilizing or completely media organizations. But Corporate Media is an organization developed to achieve effective community participation by using effective mobilization tools, and by using media tools that are effective in engaging community participation.
Corporate media will use the following strategies that will ensure that our programmes are effective in realizing the results we intend to have.
Firstly we will use active research: the community will be involve in finding root causes of their challenges, their effects, and their solutions
Then theatre for development: theater is one of the most utilized indigenous knowledge communication tools used by Malawian rural communities. We will use theatre to sensitize our targeted communities how domestic violence is a treat to development
Video documentaries will also form a vital aspect of our communication tools: most rural communities being illiterate we know that video documentaries will be an effective tool in sensitizing the communities on key project issues
The combination of these key elements in our change model will effectively reach out to audiences that need not to be illiterate to grasp the ideas the project ideas.
This is a next step in community development where we believe that the community itself will be responsible for the discovering why they have particular challenges, how it affects their development initiatives and what practical solutions can be employed to deal with that challenge
Effective and sustainable development can only be implemented when issues of domestic violence are resolved by using development strategies that empower the targeted communities and at the same time challenge them to make their own development plans. Corporate media intends to establish these kind of programmes.

i was recently discussing with my friend about women and achievement...
what happened was my friend was telling me that her mother was asking her when she will introduce her fiencee to her and she answered her that she was planning on buying a car first. and her mother said to her "those things follow later... some things like marriage are better done at a specific time.."
and my friend was so frustrated...... she was like....." Takondwa, my mother doesnt care whhether i have a good job, a car or anything... to her i have achieved nothing untill i get married!"
and such began our discussion...
we noted that in todays world women are competing with men for the same jobs, for the same status, for the same assests, for the same proffessions....
but our society is yet to rate the achievement of those things as part of the womans astatus/achievement i.e her status is rarely more prestigous because she has achieved those things..
what am i trying to say...
think for instance when introducing a man.. what do we say... " meet Mike" note ommited surname..." he works for such a company as an accountant" not company name and job title." he lives in manja" township shows economic status....
for a woman. what do we say....
" meet MRS... so so" if she is not.. introduced with first name..." lives in manja with her family. or with her mother... people!!!
hahahaha! and you are never a woman untill you have a child...
& pity you if you have never been married untill you are 35... people will start calling you mrs.YOUR FATHERS NAME>>
so a woman will never be more respected among her society if she is a Doctor but if she cooks well...
and am thinking.. how do we change this?
"my friends' idea.... lets just ignore everybody and do what we want to do. and people will follow suit!!"
simple....
but i think it takes more than that.. like i always say.. we are part of society.. though we might not subcribe to what society expects of us.. we are still judged by its expectations and standards...
as young women we need to project our career achievements and other financial achievement and make them count in our social circles or when making social relationships...
lets interact with people in our careers who respect us our acknowledge or career achievements in our social circles as well... and please lets not look down on our financial achievements when making other social commitments like marriege...
i believe as morden women, it is only practical i think to find parteners, or to interact with people socially who recognise our achievements in other circles as well...

these are 10 simple ways i do to ruduce the plastic i use
1. i have 1 plasic bottle for my water so i dont buy plastic bottled water anymore.
2. i take a shopping bag shopping, so i dont receive plastic bags from super markets
3. where applicable i keep all food stuffs in brown paper bags.
4. i recycle as much as i can.
5. i do not litter plastic bags.
6. i reuse plastic containers, bottles
7.as much as posible i avoid wrapping things in lastic
8. i regulary donate unused plastics for others who will use
9. i dont buy unnecessary plastic materials
10. i try to understand more about plastic recycling....

i might not change the world... but i hope i will make a difference.....

there is always an interesting factor i try to explore with my fellow youth advocates about issues of HIV testing and living in the age of AIDS. i was councelling a young woman about the benefits of taking the HIV test and she asked me that... "Takondwa, if you knew that if i get tested i will be HIV+, will you take the test? what you dont know can not kill you.... would you not rather not know your syatus & live as if you dont have the virus & die of any other diseases like everybody else?"
i was quite intruiged by this line of thought... i mean, young people like her would like not to know their status, suffer from Aids and get treatment from all the other diseases and not ARVS, than face the fact that they have the Virus...
this shows some interesting conceptions about HIV/AIDS
1. people are accepted when chronically ill of anything. TB,cancer... anything but not something related to AIDS..
2.people would rather suffer in silence than know their status and get treatment
3.all this shows the extent of stigma and discrimination associated with HIV...
people would not accept even to themselves that they are HIV+
so unless we deal with these issues of discrimination and stigma... all other issues of sensitization, awareness and traiining about HIV AIDS will reach out to people who are not ready to accept the reality of HIV/AIDS

The Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) has not conducted elections for the past nine years but there are high indications that they will be conducted in 2010. As a result of this delay there has been a gap in the District executive Committees’ and therefore, bringing a minor malfunction on the implementation of district development plans because of the lack of representatives from the wards i.e. the councillors. Without the presence of the councillors at the District executive committee meant that there were no representatives from the citizens. And because the people did not have an influence at the district planning meetings and strategic implementations, development initiatives were not demanded and appreciated. The people, whose development was meant for, were not included in the planning process. This is because the citizens themselves are not empowered to question or demand services from their district assembly. Village and Area development committees were established without giving them the capability on how to face challenges like how to operate in the absence of ward councillors and how to demand beneficial services from the district assembly.
It owes from this background that this project seeks to provide capacity building to Area Development Committees and the local communities in general with knowledge on how their local district assemblies work and hence empower them to demand accountable services from their assemblies.
The inability to demand services from their assemblies or to demand democratic decision processes like local government elections proves that the citizens are not aware of their roles
This lack of knowledge about local government procedures among local communities is the major contributing factor to inability to implement sustainable development in the country
Development activities are supposed to be implemented with the local people as the sole beneficiaries and now if they are not involved in the planning and implementing procedures, the development initiatives can not be sustainable

therefore there is need to facilitate the communities by providing them with the knowledge on how their district assemblies work to empower them question and asses their local governance about their rights.

To sensitize and empower Area Development Committees to know their roles and responsibilities in local governance

To actively sensitize the local communities about the structure and responsibilities of their district assemblies through video documentaries

To provide a medium of interactive discussion where marginalized citizens can easily question, assess, contribute and participate in the framework of local governance

yesterday i listened to the speach by our president bingu wa muthalika.

it has better content but i was too short on what has been the cahllenges in the year 2009.
fuel crisis , foreign currence shortage was skilled but yet these were critical to malawi.

all in all bwna bingu had a good day.

Malawi first and Malawi second. keep on keeping on mr Bingu