Produced by Care Malawi WE-RISE Project

P/Bag A 89, Lilongwe, Malawi

With support from the Australian
Government through
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
(DFAT)

Foreword
WE-RISE Project would like to thank the people whose stories are contained in this
booklet for giving consent and also for accepting to have their stories published and
shared.
All thanks goes to the people of TA Kalumbu and Chiwere for the successful work in the
course of WE-RISE Project implementation. The most significant stories indicates that the
project brought change to the communities and this was possible because of the hard
working spirit of the communities
Special thanks go 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 technical support
from Raymond Mudalige from Care Australia who provided tremendous support.Finaly
all thanks goes to the WE-RISE and ANCP Team for the job well done
Constance Mzungu, Project Manager, WE-RISE Project

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

Lemekeza Mokiwa
Program Director (P1)
Care Malawi
P/Bag A 89
Lilongwe
Email: lemekeza.@care.org

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

Most significant change stories collected by Simeon Phiri, Rose Sikawa, Mark Black and Peter Chimsasa

Most Significant Change Stories Booklet Compiled and designed by

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

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Table of Content
Description

Foreword and contacts

Table of content
About WE-RISE
The Story of Ivy Chatsika
The Story of Maureen Thokozani
The Story of Lidia Katengeza
The Story of Mala Mitayi
The story of Khumbizeni Njelema
A story of Losina Mbuna
CARE Malawi and MAICC, a model partnership
Food Security through winter cropping
The Story of Olipa Chimphangu
The Story of Estere Mtokoma
How I benefited from WE-RISE Project
Sustainable agriculture has benefited my household, Lynes from TA
Kalumbu, Malawi
Livestock production, a source of income
Group participation changes the life of Joshua and his family
Selestina Achieves her vision at household development
Negilina success with WE-RISE Project
Livestock farming is profitable
Fish pond farming, the foundation of development
The rising of Gawanani family
Landilani group experience on VSL and mobile money
Life story of Jemiah Mselembo
Benefits from energy saving stoves
Conclusion

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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 by CARE 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.
The focus is on enhancing womens access to, and control of resources, productive agricultural land and
vital agricultural inputs including improved seeds, manure and fertilisers so as to improve the yield of
crops. Winter cropping fortified by integrated irrigation and fish management is also promoted to
complement the traditional summer production. Viable improvement of off-farm business enterprises is
also promoted through linkages with other institutions that promote small and medium enterprises to
boost baking and tailoring skills among others.The project promotes dialogue sessions for women, men,
boys and girls to discuss gender equity and equality, integral human rights, and governance issues with a
view to challenging and eradicating cultural practices and attitudes that result in discrimination against
women. This is aimed at creating an environment in which womens rights will be respected and
protected, enabling them develop into their full potential at household and community development
level.The program is using a gender transformative approach of Male Championship model which has
proved to be effective in improving power relations and reduced gender based violence hence
promoting women decision making. This model is fortified by theater for development advocacy
campaigns where different issues are discussed.Use of community scorecard is emphasized during
implementation of activities

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Ivy Chatsika aged 42 years of age lives in Chatsika village in GVH

Chatsika in TA Kalumbu. She has 6 children and 3 of them got married
and three of them stay with her at home. Her husband is a chief in the
village. At first she was not interested in groups she was only busy
enjoying her husband`s position. Whenever people were talking about
village savings and loan ,she was among the people who were saying
bad things and discouraging others from joining the group. Before she
joined the village and loans groups, she used to be too dependent to
the husband for everything at the household. She couldn`t contribute
anything to her household as everything was coming from the husband
and she could not contribute apart from house chores She recalled that
it was difficult for her to manage the home when her husband went
away for some months. Whenever she wants something even her own
clothes she had to ask the husband to buy for her.
Ivy Chatsika standing outside her house.
In 2012 Ivy became the member chikondi group in village and started saving and
accessing the loans from the group. Her group had an opportunity to be trained in
business management. At first she was not comfortable with the group since she is
the wife of the chief but after some time, she got used. In the first share out savings,
she got K48, 000 which she used to buy 3 goats and a bag of fertilizers. The
husband started appreciating the benefits from the group and started contributing
some money for her savings.
Ivy with chikondi VLS group
She ventured into the grocery business soon after her VSL group got
the business management training where she was privileged to
participate. She borrowed some money from the group and ordered
some grocery items like soap, sugar and others. It was the first grocery
in her village and the business is going on well and she makes a lot of
profits from the shop till now. Whenever I or any family member want
to get something from the grocery payment has to be made because its
business She said. From the groceries she is able to support the
family which was not the case in the past and she can now make some
decisions at her household.
As she was not economically empowered in the past, she could not be influential in contributing to meaningful to any
household decisions. She considers sustained access to income as the most significant change in her life

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Maureen Thokozani is 36 years and comes from Nyundo

village in Group Village Headman Nyundo in TA Kalumbu,
Lilongwe. She has 7 children namely: Chinsinsi aged 25
years, Christopher aged 23 and is in form 4, Clever aged 19
and is also in form 4, Eliza aged 17 and is in form 3 , Brave
aged 16 and is in standard 6, Constance age 12 and is in
standard 8, and Holiness aged 6 years standard 2. She also
takes care of her nephew who is an orphan and her name is
Lakiyoni Madeya aged 14 years and he is in standard 6.
Maureens` husband is a small scale farmer and sometimes he sells farm commodities. Before
Maureen and her husband joined Village Savings and Loans, they were leading very difficult life.
They were struggling to find food for the family and it was difficult to pay school fees for the
children. Each and every day Maureen and the husband were thinking where they could get
assistance for their children.
In the year 2012 she heard about WERISE project and the Village Saving and Loans program as
one of the key activities the Project was championing. She got interested and joined the group
and few months later she was nominated and elected as a Village Agent in her community.
Her life started changing as a member of VSL and a leader
for VSL groups under her leadership. After sharing out of
the money she got K36, 000 and the husband also got K32,
000 from his group where he is a member. With this
money combined together, they bought fertilizer and other
household items. They managed to pay the school fees for
their children and also bought the school uniforms.
Maureen also bought 2 goats, 2 pigs and chicken and
intensified livestock production to beef up her investments..
Maureen is now happy with her children as she has been
empowered to support them
Maureen has been participating in different trainings through the WERISE
Project and these include: Village saving and loan methodology, business
management and Financial Literacy which have contributed to her
achievements. In the past she used to do the business with little knowledge
and was not able to do market research and make profits but now thats the
problem of the past. Her better access to income enabled her to venture
into small scale livestock production focusing on pigs, goats and chicken and
this has beefed up and diversified her income sources

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Maureen is an empowered woman who has been providing support to VSL groups and has
confidence to speak in public assisting members of the community. She participates in different
forums including when traditional leaders have formal and informal gathering. She is not spared
to participate and contribute in making decisions that concerns the community. My most

significant change is being an empowered woman who is able to support the household she
concluded.

Lidia Katengeza aged 37 years old is one of the people who have benefited from WERISE Project.
Lidia has 4 children, three girls and one boy and she also stays with her brother`s two sons aged
5 and 3 years. Her husband Mr. Katengeza left for South Africa for work 12 years ago. When
the husband just left for South Africa she had no hope on what to feed and dress the children.
There was no support from the husband since he left for South Africa and it was the
responsibility of Lidia to take care of the children.
Lidia used to lead the miserable life since the husband left as she
had no financial muscle She struggled to find food, clothes and
shelter for the family. Her children used to wear torn clothes and
one of them reached the extent of giving up going to school
because of lack of support.

Lidia with her children looking miserable

Lidia joined Village and Savings group in 2012 after realized how her friends were benefitting
from the groups. In the same year 2012 she was elected to be the Farmer to farmer Trainer for
Kamphata Group Village Headman. From 2012 she has been participating in different trainings
which included; Extension Facilitation Skills, Crop management for different crops like beans,
maize, groundnuts, fruits and many others. Through these training, she has gained a lot of
knowledge which she started applying in her home
After having her first shares she managed to buy farm inputs like fertilizers and seeds.
She started following whatever she got from the trainings in the first
year and she managed to harvest 4 ox-carts of maize, 10 bags of
soya beans and 12 bags of groundnuts. She sold the groundnuts and
soybeans and used the money to buy 3 pigs 2 goats and bags 5 bags
of fertilize for the next season. She decided to beef up her farming
with livestock production and is happy that her income has been
diversified

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.
Goats and pigs
production which she
ventured into has
increased her income
through sales of the
livestock

From the sales of maize production and livestock,

Lidia bought 24 iron sheets and molded bricks for
the new house. Lidia is now a proud owner of a
corrugated iron roofed house something she could
not dream of in the past. Owning a house is the

most significant change in her life.

Lidia with her daughters standing outside their
newly built house
Lidias` life has changed a lot and she now has enough food to feed her children and pay school
fees and buy school uniforms for her children without difficulties. Lidia has reached an extent of
selling the surplus of her farm produce because she produces more than enough.

I wish

my husband could come and see how we are looking now; we are
no longer poor as he left us she said.
She is even able to hire some laborers in her field to assist her with field work. Her ambition is
to venture into dairy cattle so that she can be selling the milk in her area. Apart from farming
Lidia is also a business lady who buys plastic pails and exchange with maize and this makes her to
have more maize which she sells during lean periods. Everybody knows me at Kaphiri and
Wakawaka market and I have so many customers (vendors) She concluded

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Mala Mitayi comes from Mkadya village in Group

Village Headman Chauwa in TA Kalumbu,
Lilongwe. Mala is 50 years of age and she has three
children namely Joviala, Benelia and Thandiwe.
Mala is the Head of her household. She has stayed a
miserable life for many years together with her
children.

fter suffering for so many years, she decided to join Village Savings and loans club in 2012
upon seeing how other were benefiting. She managed to save throughout the cycle and
managed to buy a Pig which has multiplied to 5 now. She has sold some pigs and the
money assisted her in buying some household items like clothes for her children, school fees and
even paying labour at her farm land.
In 2014 Mala managed to mould 20,000 bricks
which she used to build a good house which she
intends to roof with iron sheets this year.

I am a happy woman now and

can sustain my living through VSL
and selling my Pigs, even if I dont
have a husband to support me says
Mala.
The Construction of the house is the most significant change in my life She said.

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humbizeni Njelema hails from Mwese Village in

GVH Chongo in T.A.Kalumbu in Lilongwe District.
Khumbizeni is 65 years of age. She never stepped
into a classroom in her life. She has been involved
in a business of buying and selling of sugar cane which
never made her change at all. The reason being that she
could not read and write contributed to misunderstanding
on giving change of money to customers. Her ignorance
made her not even dares to participate in Village Savings
and loans groups in her village.
In 2011 after being sensitized by the WERISE project staff on the need for attending adult Literacy
classes, she started attending classes in the GVH which was being supported by the WE-RISE
project. The instructor Mr. Robert Sadzola, who was trained by the WE-RISE project worked
tirelessly to assist Khumbizeni. Now Khumbizeni is one of the women who is able to read and
right and her businesses are making profits since she can even count the money better as
compared to when she was not attending the classes..
Khumbizeni has been selected to guide and teach young boys and girls at her church every
Sunday morning, she is also a Village Health worker responsible for guiding and advising T.B
patients in her GVH.
Her sugarcane business has helped her to
buy 5 bags of cement as seen on the picture
and she intends to use for constructing a
floor in her house. Khumbizeni also attend
most meetings organized by Care, Village
Agents and FFTs and now follows modern
methods of farming. She is better off in
terms of food security at her house hold.
Her contact number is +265 993 713 102.

Khumbize is involved in small scale business of selling cooking oil repacked in small plastics and
she uses the profits to support her household. She joined adult education facilitated by the WERISE since 2012 and she can read the bible and other books.

Household food

security is the most significant change that I have achieved She

said

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Losina Mbuna lives at Zakaliya village in TA Kalumbu and grew up

a miserable life and had no chance of going to school when she
was young. She joined Village Savings and Loans in 2011 with
support from the WE-RISE Project. When she experienced the
problem of counting her cash and reading her shares, she joined
adult literacy classes with support and encouragement from WERISE. She attended classes for a year. Losina now is able to read
books including the bible and count money with no problems at all
From the VSL share out in 2012 she bought a cow which has reproduced up to 4 cows now in
her compound. She also has some goats which are being kept by her mother in her home village.

osina contributed to the construction of the cow house and everything was done together
with her husband. I do fix the cow house because I was taught how to do it and am
proud of that She concluded

Currently Losina is running a shop

within her community and she
borrows money from the VSL and
invests into her shop. I am able to
count money, read information on
products that I sell and I am happy
that my life has changed. She
concluded.
I am able to meet my daily needs from the sales in my shop and
continue saving in VSL she said

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Effective partnership between CARE and MAICC has demonstrated success in achieving women
empowerment drive through shared learning that has enhanced capacity for the benefits of
communities in Malawi

are Malawi realized the importance of working with local organization to maximize benefits,
larger coverage and promote sustainability. In line with these core benefits, Care Malawi
established partnership with Mponela AIDS Counseling and resource centre to design and
implement WE-RISE Project with support from the Australian Government through DFAT
The partnership covered the areas of building the capacity of each other; plan and re-plan
together; implement and assess together; monitoring and evaluate together; building professional
competencies and skills through working together; utilize the strength of one another and share
financial, material and human resources. The process involved in developing the partnership
included: high level management meetings to strategies and develop the concept and the final
proposal upon understanding the strength of each organization and how they could complement
each other
Partnership plays a vital role in the shaping and implementation of a program therefore CARE
and MAICC worked together from designing to implementation and evaluation level. CARE and
MAICC credibility lies in the responsible and constructive role played together in the two
traditional authorities using other formal and informal structures such as VDC to maximize
benefits targeting the communities. NGOs and local
organizations possess well-established and diverse experience,
expertise and capacity in fields which will be of particular
importance to the implementation and review of a program
and CARE Malawi ably identified a partner who had qualities
to complement to the implementation of WE-RISE initiative
for the benefits of the communities in then target areas.
To ensure that there is full potential contribution of CARE and
MAICC, the fullest possible communication and cooperation
was agreed upon and this included the agreement for the
disbursement of funds for the smooth implementation of the
activities.
With a view to strengthening CARE and MAICC, WE-RISE Project did everything together for the
success of the project and the following were done together: Development and review of formal
procedures and mechanisms for the involvement of community existing structures at all levels
from policy-making and decision-making to implementation.

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Refining the strategies together in a

participatory manner
Launching WE-RISE project together
Carrying out inception activities together
Attending national and international
workshops together
Developing and reviewing plans together
Compiling progress reports together
Rotating chairmanship of quarterly meetings
and venue
Utilization of existing skills and capacities of staffs from CARE and MAICC in facilitating
workshops
Participating in capacity building initiatives including training together
Involve communities of both CARE and MAICC in similar initiatives and interventions for
equity
Conducting baseline, cohort study, value for money and end line evaluation together
Conduct monitoring visits together and
Writing progress reports together

The cordial and successful partnership between CARE and MAICC has left many organizations
wonder on who is a grant holder or partner as everything is done together as one team. Other
organizations could not know that this particular staff belonged to CARE as grant holder or to
MAICC as a partner because the team was always doing things together. Even within CARE
Malawi Projects, CARE and MAICC partnership was different and other projects kept on
wondering how WE-RISE was implemented as the team was doing things together with no one
with upper hand as is the case with other partnerships
CARE and MAICC partnership has helped in building the capacity of staffs and the organizations
through sharing of expertise and learning from each other. For example CARE is a champion in
VSL and Scorecard while MAICC is a champion in Male involvement called Male champion
model. The partnership has resulted in both CARE and MAICC being champions in a number of
areas which was not the case before establishing the partnership. Currently MAICC can
comfortably provide technical support to other organizations on scorecard processes and likewise
CARE on male champion model
The good relationship demonstrated at organization level through WE-RISE Project has also seen
project participants from CARE and MAICC target areas working together, sharing expertise
through training facilitations where project participants from one side render services in another
target area. For example: project participants who were trained in male champion model in
MAICC area provided technical support to CARE area likewise project participants from CARE
area provided technical support on disaster risk reduction through production of energy saving
stoves in MAICC target area.
The partnership has unearthed hidden potentials and specialized expertise which has created
favorable environment for CARE and MAICC to tap whenever needed and this is at organization
level, implementation team level and project participants level

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There is more skill and capacity diversification through CARE and MAICC partnership as each one
has added skills and capacities through working together and learning from each other
In conclusion, partnership plays a vital role in achieving the desired goals for the common good
of the communities. Partnerships between CARE and MAICC through WE-RISE Project have
created opportunities to combine skills, expertise, and resources that have effectively contributed
to the implementation of the project. Collective efforts are the best means to achieve results
and this has been demonstrated through the partnership between CARE and MAICC in Malawi
The whole essence of partnership is to complement each other and attain vibrant push strategy
for the benefits of the communities we serve and not as competitors as seen in other partnership.
Identify your strength and gaps as organizations and fill the gaps with the strength of another
organization and work as a team with jam-packed strength
CARE Malawi and MAICC, a model partnership worthy emulating

Communities in TA Kalumbu have realized their potential and are working hard to make sure
that they are food sufficient and have reduced the lean months period when they used not to
have food. Malawi depends on rain fed agriculture; and communities just grow once in growing
season. With the coming of WERISE project in Kuchitala village TA Kalumbu, communities were
privileged to have access to a set of initiatives in the
form of agricultural production, marketing and value
chain,village savings and loans, adult Literacy,
ccommunity Scorecard, nutrition, engaging men
through male championships,irrigation for sustainable
agriculture and entrepreneurship. The entry point was
Village savings and loan groups who were mobilized
together, trained and started saving and borrowing.
Communities had to find means to generate income
and save and agriculture production was the focus.
Considering that Malawi depends on rain fed
agriculture, WERISE Project intensified sustainable
agriculture and small scale irrigation for winter cropping. The project identified farmer to farmer
trainers from the communities and trained them in sustainable agriculture and value chain. These
farmer to farmer trainers are responsible for building the capacity of community farmers to adopt
agriculture best practices. The project procured and distributed bags of cement and water pipes
for the construction of water canal and diverting the water to the fields. Considering that
communities had no access to improved seeds, the project distributed seeds in form of maize,

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beans, mustard, cabbage and irish potato for them to plant group and individual gardens. As an
exit strategy, the project works hand in hand with local leaders and government agriculture
extension and irrigation officers. Irrigation initiative has resulted in communities growing crops
twice including vegetables for income and food and they have reduced the lean period when
communities do not have food.
Conservation agriculture and winter cropping have
proved to be the best practices that enable
households to be food secure. Conservation
agriculture restore soil fertility leading to bumper
harvest and winter cropping enable farmers to grow
twice leading to sufficient food and income at
household level. Green maize and vegetables from
winter cropping are sold to traders and income
invested in VSL

Men need special involvement for them to support their spouses

Olipa comes from Chimphangu village in GVH Chongo in TA
Kalumbu. She is 33 years old and married with 4 children: Stera 12
years, Amosi 10 years, Martha 6 years and Justina 3 years old.
Initially, the husband could not allow Olipa to join Village Savings
and loans groups in the village.

Olipa at her house

With the sensitizations brought by the WE-RISE in the GVH, Olipa

was the first to show interest in joining the VSL but the husband
could not allow her do so.

The man later was invited for gender training at Nyanja EPA which brought several men from
the surrounding communities. This is where he changed his mind and allowed the wife join the
VSL in 2012.
Olipa bought shares throughout the cycle amounting to MK11,
000.00 and after share out she got MK 16,000.00. They agreed as
a household on how they were to spend the money. This was now
in 2013 and they bought 2 bags of fertilizer, 2 pigs and in 2014 the
family bought Iron sheets and molded bricks for the house.
Currently the husband encourages her more to keep on saving after
seeing the benefits and he gives her money to save.

Olipa participating in VSL-saving and borrowing after the husband got convinced of the benefits

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Estere is 34 years of age and she hails from Chimphangu village, GVH Chongo in the area of
Senior Chief Kalumbu in Lilongwe District. Estere joined the WE-RISE project activities while she
was the head of the household since 2011. She has 4 children namely; Ruth (16 years), Tsogolani (
12 years), Steria ( 8 years) and Emanuel ( 5 years). Estere joined WE-RISE activities in 2011 when
she participated in forming a Village Savings and Loans group in her village with the support and
guidance from the WE-RISE field officer for the Traditional Authority. Her group is called
Chimpsule VSL and her group was trained by Lifinet Elisa who is a Village Agent for the area.
Following the overwhelming formation of groups the community agreed to choose Estere as
Farmer to Farmer Trainer for the area. Up to this moment Estere is the FFT and she has proved
to be a hard worker. She attended the FFT training in 2012 in Lilongwe.
Estere said she has benefited a lot through her participation in WE-RISE activities as follows:

1. I am able to stand in front of so many people when am conducting a training in my

GVH said Estere.
2. Being the FFT, am very conversant with new farming technologies which I advise the
community of this area who are participating in VSL she said.
3. I am empowered and food secure now as compared to the past before joining VSL
activities. In the past food
used to end in November
and we went without food
up to April when we were
harvesting. Now I am
having 4 bags of 50 kgs
which will take me up to
April, 2016 Said Estere.
4. Am proud here to
say that I have assisted so
many families through various trainings and most of them are able to cultivate in Dambo
land (Dimba) and harvesting maize used for food in their households.
5. I have 24 chickens now and these have multiplied from the 3 chickens I bought in 2011
from VSL share outs and this exclude those I used as food She added
6. I have 4 goats now which I bought from VSL benefits

I have a three bed room house which I have built using my own plans from 2012 up to
2016 as follows She said.

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In 2012- Molded 5000 bricks.

In 2013- Built a three bed room house and thatched with grass
In 2014- Bought 25 Iron sheets which I spent MK 55,000.00.
In 2015- Bought poles for use in thatching my house with the Iron sheets with labor of which
I spent MK 18,000.00.
ll these developments were done on my own without a husband and when men from the
community saw that I have developed ,some men started proposing marriage to me and I
got married in 2015. Even if I have my husband I still rely on myself no more full dependence
on the man now Estere emphasized.

Her last comments

Belonging to special interest groups is beneficial than staying in the dark as I used to in
the past She said .
Local leaders now are targeting VSL groups when calling for village meetings
When other organizations come for meetings in the area, they prioritise members
belonging to groups to work with.
My husband never attended Gender training and dialogue sessions but I did, now it is my
responsibility to make him aware of gender issues affecting development in the area more
especially those being perpetrated by men, cultural beliefs and customs.

During my work as FFT I have worked with 15 VSL groups of

which most families have transformed and are better off compared
to previous years She concluded

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Wyson Chatha comes from Chatha Village, group village Kuchitala in TA Kalumbu in Lilongwe.
He is 47 years old, married with four children, two boys and two girls. The two boys are grown
up now and are married while the last but one girl is in standard 1. His household suffered a lot
when he just married because he could not support the household financially meeting the daily
needs. He had no reliable source of income to support the household.
Care Malawi through WERISE project visited the communities
surrounding his house and people were sensitized on the
importance of village saving and loans. He became interested upon
learning the benefits of saving and he joined the group that was
formed in the village. He saved MK7, 000 as shares and received
MK21, 000 during the time of sharing. He used the money to buy
a she goat and now he has 8 goats in total. He sold some of the
goats and used the money to buy fertilizer for his agricultural
production.

y household started reaping the fruits of saving as we were able to support

ourselves he said.

After some time, he was selected by the communities to work on voluntary basis
as farmer to farmer trainer and was later trained in agronomy and sustainable agriculture. He
then started educating the surrounding communities to follow the best agricultural practices that
could give bumper yield.
Food insecurity is the issue of the past to his household as he is able to support the household
with food and financially the whole year
According to Wyson, the

most significant change in his life are the skills

he gained which has enabled him to be food secure and increase
his income levels and support the household which was not the
case in the past

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Sustainable agriculture has benefited my household, Lynes

from TA Kalumbu, Malawi
Lynes Mkwezalamba comes from village Mkomba in group
village Mkomba in TA Kalumbu in rural Lilongwe. She was
born in 1962 and she went to Primary school up to
standard 4. She found a suitor in 1977 and got married in
1979 and was blessed with six children, three boys and
three girls. During the first years of her marriage, she
suffered a lot as every year could be stuck with hunger.
It was difficult for her to support the children as there was no meaningful source of income.
In 2011, she was privileged to join village saving and loan group that was introduced by Care
Malawi WERISE Project.
She got MK11, 700 in the first year of her saving and in 2012 she was selected to work as farmer
to farmer trainer. She was trained and started educating the communities on the best agricultural
practices. I started seeing the fruits of sustainable agriculture where I was applying everything
that I was teaching people to follow she narrated.
In 2014, she managed to sell her produce mainly maize and beans and got K300, 000andshe
used the money to buy iron sheets for her new house, 2 pigs and oxcart which she uses as a form
of transport. In 2015, she managed to get MK250, 000 after selling maize and pigs and bought 3
goats and 2 cattle.
She also got involved in winter cropping to supplement her income and relish at home and was
able to support her household throughout the year.
She intends to build a modest house with the iron sheets she bought in 2014. I appreciate the
knowledge and skills gained from WERISE project which has transformed my household. She
concluded.
Lynes was trained on how to write success stories and taking nice photos and she valued this as
an asset of skills which she will continue using even after the project comes to an end. People
come to my field and learn more on sustainable agriculture and this is so because I practice what I
teach people in the communities she added

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Simiti Kangota is a 34 years old married man from Yakobe group village in TA Kalumbu in
Lilongwe District. Mr. and Mrs. Kangota have together 4 children of which 2 are school going.
The family gets its income from farming and livestock production. Simiti started participating in
WERISE activities in 2013 after he attended a meeting that was organized by CARE Malawi
WERISE project and he was inspired to join village saving and loan group.
He was trained in different areas including male champion, HIVAIDS, sustainable agriculture,
mobile money and gender.
He has benefited a lot from WERISE project and this includes integration of gender at his
household. I and my wife used to do different activities
separately at home but now we assist each other and do any
job because our eyes are open on gender issues he said. I do
wash clothes and clean the compound and my wife do
construct grass fence something which was not done in the
past he added.
Another area that he benefited is on agricultural production
because he follows the advices he received from CARE officers who were working hand in hand
with Government extension officers on agriculture. This enabled him to harvest enough to feed
the whole household for the whole year with no months of no food.
He proudly said he is a public speaker and attributed this to the exposure which WERISE project
accorded him through trainings.
The village and saving group which he was and is still a member encountered a problem on how
to keep the money safely until financial literacy and mobile money was introduced through
ANCP in the same area of WERISE. Keeping the money in a phone is a very safe way and am
proud to be part of mobile money as I use my phone to transact business he said.
He was able to venture into small scale livestock production focusing on chickens, pigs and
rabbits. I get money after selling livestock and support my household and use part of the money
to buy farm inputs he said.
Livestock production is the most significant change in his household as it generates income for the
whole family. I will make sure that I follow advices from the extension officer on how to take
care of the livestock he concluded.

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Joshua aged 38 comes from Thondolo village in GVH Thondolo inT.A. Kalumbu in Lilongwe
District. He is married to Judith 30 and are blessed with 4 children 2 boys and 2 girls. Since his
childhood Joshua led a difficult life as he had no meaningful source of income. WE-RISE project
came in his village in 2011 with the following activities:

Village Savings and Loans

Agricultural production
Produce Marketing
Adult Literacy classes
Gender and HIV/AIDs
Male Champion groups
Nutrition Education
Business Management

In his village they all dedicated themselves to the WE-RISE activities since it was the first time that
Care Malawi implemented its activities in the Group Village Head of Thondolo. Joshua was
chosen to be a Village Agent for the GVH after the community saw potential in him and also that
he met all the requirements for one to be chosen as Village Agent. He attended all the trainings
required for the Village Agent like VSL methodology, Selection Planning and Management of
Business, HIV and AIDs, Gender, Nutrition and many more, Joshua facilitated the formation of 15
VSL groups and trained all of them through the support from the WE-RISE field Officers.
During the processes of these trainings Joshua said he has gained the following:

Able to facilitate training sessions in his GVH

Able to stand in front of the crowd and train them without fear
He has travelled to several places in Malawi like Salima where without the WE-RISE it
could have been impossible
He has learnt on how to resolve conflicts among the community members whom he has
been interacting with within the community
His family has been transformed and has purchased assets which will be of assistance to
the family for years e.g Oxcart, Cattle, brick house thatched with Iron sheets
He is applying manure in his fields because of cattle and he is harvesting enough maize to
feed his family.
He has gained a lot of knowledge which even if the WE-RISE phases out he will remain
with that knowledge

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During the process of implementing the WE-RISE project, ANCP- Micro Finance came to assist the
VSL groups with security of their money. The project also targeted the same VSL which were
organized by the WE-RISE. From the Micro Finance project Joshua gained the following:

Financial Literacy
Business Management

He proudly expressed his happiness and satisfaction of the mobile money facility which opened
His eyes and now he has an account with Airtel. He said he can deposit his money without
necessarily visiting the city.

elestina was born in 1968 and hails from Kapedzera village in

GVH Nthesa in T.A Kalumbu, Lilongwe District. She attended
her primary school at Kapedzera and left in 1986. She got
married in 1987 to Mr. Simeon but her family had a multiple of
problems like having no blankets and food. She was only using her
wrapper to cover herself during the night and put it on during the
day. She has three children 2 boys and 1 girl. The last born is in Form
three.
Her husband was a earning a living from farming piece works in several fields of other people
around the village. They had no chance of acquiring Agricultural inputs at their household due to
high levels of poverty. Their land was mostly rented out so that they could use the money for
buying food which lasted within a short period of time. By then Selestina was not able to
participate in any group activity in her village due to shy and the way her family was in terms of
poverty level Her husband was a drunkard and very lazy and any money which came his way
was spent on beer. He grew up with a mind that women are behind men in everything and there
was no sharing of responsibilities in their household. All the household chores were the
responsibility of myself , said Selestina.
In 2011 WE-RISE project came into their village and one of the topics which touched her was
Village Savings and Loans. She immediately joined one of the groups which were organized in
her village. She attended most meetings of that group as well as the group based trainings in VSL,
Agronomy, HIV and AIDs Gender just to mention a few. She managed to participate the whole
cycle and she got MK 12, 000.00 during sharing out. That money was spent for a bag of fertilizer
which was used for top dressing their maize field. For the first time her household harvested 10
bags of 50 kilograms maize. Following this achievement, Selestina took courage to talk to her

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husband on the need and importance of participating in groups, but Mr. Simeon said its the
responsibility of the woman not his.
One day in 2014 the Village Agent came with the training on Gender where men and their
spouses were invited to attend. Lucky enough Selestinas husband attended the gender dialogue
session. After that training his attitude started changing and he joined Tikondane VSL group and
he started accepting his wifes contribution towards household plans. They agreed to buy land to
build a good house. During the sharing out in 2014, Selestina got MK18, 000.00 and her husband
got MK20, 000.00. and used the money from the two to buy a quarter acre land. They
harvested 15 bags of 50 kilograms of maize after following modern farming practices which were
being brought by the FFT. In the following year of 2015 Selestinas household harvested 6 oxcarts
equivalent to 30 bags of 50kilos of Maize. Following this trend her family has maintained Food
Security and no more hunger experienced. Now I still have 4 bags of 50 kilos maize flour to
keep my household up to June, 2016 said Selestina. We got shares as a household we managed
to get MK45, 000.00 which we spent on molding 35,000 bricks which we will use in building a
good house I mentioned earlier on she added The money was also used to buy Pigs and clothes
for her and her husband. Money for the 2016 cycle will be used for constructing a house which
will be used for renting out. She was chosen to be Chair lady of the Marketing Association for
T.A. Kalumbu in 2013 where she managed to lead marketing clubs to search markets with better
prices for Soya and Ground nuts.

My most Significant Change of my life with WE-RISE project is acquiring land where I will built a
modern house, change in my household status for the better She concluded

Negilina Kalowa comes from Chisindo village GVH Njati in TA Kalumbu. She
was born in 1959 and because of other reasons she stopped school when
she was in standard four. She got married in 1978 when she was just 20
years old. She has 8 children 3 girls and 5 boys.
My marriage was going on well, we were good farmers in our village in
every harvest we had plenty of maize, groundnuts, soya, sweet potato and
even tobacco. We also had different types of live stork such as goats, pigs and chickens. We were also
trained in fish farming and currently get additional income from fish sales. Negilina narrated.

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All of the sudden things changed in 1994 after enjoying 16 years of marriage as she got divorced and
that marked the beginning of her down fall as she went into terrible experiences. Worse still the
husband left all the responsibility for children into her hands and she had nothing to feed them, talk less
of clothing and shelter. She had a small house with one bedroom where she was putting up with her 8
children. She could only harvest 3 bags of 50kg of maize for the whole season. She survived through
piece work to eat and cloth children.
Her story changed in 2011when CARE Malawi introduced WERISE project in the village. She was selected
to be among volunteers to learn and train others on post harvest granaries. She also joined a VSL group
which was introduced in the community. In the first circle of the SVLA she got MK52, 000 which she used
to buy fertilizer and one goat among other things. This was the beginning of her turning point. Since
then she has been participating in different interventions introduced by WERISE project. She is in
scorecard and forestation committee. Her life has really changed she has food enough for her family;
her children are send to school they have clothes to put on. She has good house which she could call a
home now. She has a woodlot that gives her firewood, animals for food and manure and she is better
than before now.
Thanks to WERISE, am a new person now with a new future This was her words to summarize
everything.

Daniel Kalele is married to Moureen. Daniel is 28 and

Moureen is 24 and they have a son called Oswin. They both
live in Kumbwese village GVH Chinkhombe in TA Kalumbu,
Lilongwe district in Malawi.
As a young couple they experienced a lot of challenges like
food shortage, money and they behaved childishly by not
taking part in issues of development in their community.
Since 2012 when I joined village savings and loans little by little my life began to change. He said. The
First VSL cycle they graduated with MK30, 000 which was a mark of their transformation. In 2014 he was
selected as volunteer responsible for animal health. Animals like chickens, goats and pigs. He was also
elected into fish committee at their scheme.
From fish farming and VSL he is able to source money for irrigation farming such as buying fertilizer,
seed and chemicals.

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He had an opportunity to learn about mobile banking through ANCP Project. He has mobile money
account which has assisted his family to secure their money after selling their farm produce as they no
more worry about thief, fire or crocked people.
He is a member of scorecard committee which helps people to do all project work in a free and open
environment as they bring together service providers and users to assess strength and gaps in a
participatory manner. This has assisted him to work together with his wife without considering the type
of work. Actually his life has changed through trainings he got from WERISE project.
As a volunteer responsible for animal health, he treat animal free but farmers pay for medicine. It is this
medicine that they sell and have something for their homes. He has bought livestock like goats, chicken
which helps him to have meat and money in the pocket. From these livestock he is able to get money for
fertilizer, he also get manure for his farm from the live stocks. This has led to good maize harvest in his
field His live storks are healthy because he has learnt how to treat these animals and he apply that to
the animals and the people in his surrounding village are also benefiting from his skills.
He is extremely happy that though WERISE is winding up their activities but this knowledge and skills
imparted to him will still remain with him which means he will continue benefiting even if the project
phases out. The people of his village and surrounding ones will still benefit.

Chimbiri club was started in 2011 and has 120 members and
the club is involved in integrated fish farming and Irrigation.
The group is also involved in Village Savings and loans since
2012 ad they use money from the saving group and invest in
fish farming.
Care Malawi through the WE-RISE project provided training
in Fish pond management for all the 120 participating
farmers and later provided 2,500 fingerings for the fish
ponds. Since then the group harvests twice a year and share
the proceeds equally. Water from the fish ponds is also used for irrigation in their fields around the fish
ponds where they grow maize and vegetables. In a year they make sales within the range of MK25, 000MK 40,000.
The money is used for various activities like buying agricultural inputs (chemicals, seeds, fertilizer) for
the winter cropping and these are distributed equally among the participants.

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The least amount of money realized by a member in the group
is MK30, 000.00 but most of them get over MK40, 000.00 from
the sales of winter crops. All these proceeds have made a huge
difference in their households like constructing new and
modern houses, buying inputs for rain fed Agriculture and
household items.
Another interesting thing is that most of these farmers are now
food secure as compared to when they were 4 years ago. The
nutritional status of their households has improved greatly.
The groups vision is to purchase a water pump to assist in watering their fields so easy, buying a maize
mill to be operated for the groups benefits.
Members expressed proud that they belong to the productive group and promised to make a tangible
change for the entire community.

Gawanani and his wife Chrissy lives at January village in GVH Mlinga, Traditional Authority Kalumbu in
Lilongwe District. They got married in 1996 and are now blessed with four children, three boys and one
girl.
Their family faced a lot of challenges including
chronic food shortage in the past and they used to
eat maize bran which they were buying from the
maize mill after selling firewood.
In 2011 the family decided to join the activities
brought by the WE-RISE project especially the VSL
and Agricultural production. The family received
Cassava cuttings and grew for the first time in their
field and it was well managed and during the first
year the family kept more for multiplication in the
dambo land. They also grew sweet potatoes as well to supplement food and income. The family chose
these crops because they do not require artificial fertilizers which are very expensive in Malawi. From
the sales of Cassava and Sweet potato, they managed to buy 15 bags Maize of 50 kg each.

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Upon joining the VSL club the man was not for the idea but the
woman insisted and after saving for one cycle she got MK14, 000.00
after sharing out. The money was invested into Tea business which
they are running till now. After seeing the commitment the woman
had put into the VSL, the community selected her as Village Agent
who was trained by Care in
VSL Methodology so that
she could trains groups in
her GVH.
In 2012 the Man got interested to join VSL as well after seeing
the benefits brought by the woman at the household.
Following the sharing out in 2012, the family bought a goat,
Pig, Chickens, Ducks, Pigeons and rabbits. These livestock have brought
tremendous change at their household by providing organic manure,
food and income. This family is hard working both in community and
individually. The man was also chosen to be the supervisor of adult
literacy classes by the Malawi Government.
The family also practices diversification farming in both winter and rain
fed Agriculture and this has made this family able to keep on paying
school fees for their children.
The family has planted trees for use in various activities at the household and also as a way of bringing
back the environment and this include fruits like pawpaw, bananas, Irish potato
As this storey was being told the family had just bought a dairy cow showing the progress still being
experienced.

Landilani VSL group is in Mchulu village, GVH Mkumba TA

Kalumbu in rural part of Lilongwe district, Malawi the
warm heart of Africa. The group started savings on 6th
October 2013 with 15 members 1male and 14 females
until now the membership has not changed.
Landilani was formed after its members broke away to
their mother group called Tadzuka in the same village. The
group broke away due to mismanagement and theft of
funds and poor leadership of their mother group. Several times they experienced challenges when it
comes to sharing of money at the end of cycle. When these members saw that the problem was growing

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instead they decided to withdraw their membership. After some
months the group saw that they could not just stay but form their
own group hence the birth of Landilani club on 6th October 2013.
Since they broke away for the reasons stated above, they did not
want to repeat the same mistakes in this new group. So they
began incessant search of solutions that could help them keep
their money safe than keeping them in the cash box as was the
case in the first group. Though they bought cash box which hard
three locks and its keys kept by separate members but as long as
the cash box was kept within the house in their village, members
still felt their money were not safe. So they did not want to mess up this great opportunity but to
protect it at any cost.
Landilani club members have been able to buy fertilizer, pay school fees, building houses, buying
livestork, starting small business and assisting them in every days life with money from group savings.
Come in the year 2014 Care Malawi introduced new initiative in the same area called Malawi
Microfinance funded by ANCP. In this initiative the group learned about Financial Literacy Education,
Business managements and Mobile Money banking. When they learned that they could keep their
money safe on phone, the group did not hesitate but to register with Airtel Money, one of the major
mobile money companies in Malawi. Many groups in the area did not accept this new idea in fear of
losing their money. At first even some of its members had fears but later on they embraced the idea.
Since then the club has been able to transact through their new phone accounts and all members with
phones are now on Airtel Money. When the group wants to withdraw money from airtel money account
for sharing out they also get a commission from Airtel. This also encouraged the group even more.
Today more groups in the area have registered on Airtel Money because of this groups courage.

Jemiah Mselembo is 37 years old woman who comes from

Namadengo village TA Kalumbu in Lilongwe district. Jemiah is
married and have 3 children.
Just like many others Jemiah has a story to tell. She has passed
through different experiences of poverty. She had a leaking
house, they were sleeping without food and sometimes only
one meal per day, they have been surviving on piece works to
eat and find some money for clothes and paying for childrens
school fees. Indeed life was hard for this family.

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Come 2010 after introduction of WERISE project thats when
change began in their life. Jemiah registered as a member of VSL
group and was selected to be Village Agent for her area. This
increased her participation in VSLAs and later was also trained in
gender, HIV and AIDS, financial education and business
management. She got encouraged with the skills and started
selling flitters and vegetables.
From VSLA and small businesses Jemiah is able to buy fertilizer
for farming, paying school fees for her children and has built a
house and her plan is to buy oxcart this year. She is able to harvest enough food to last for a season. She
is now a proud owner of a decent house from her involvement in village saving and loans.
Through ANCP initiative Jemiah registered on Airtel Money account and is able to keep her money on
phone which is safe and is free from temptation of spending the money anyhow without budgeting

Harriet Masamba comes from Kalumbu Village in TA Kalumbu,

Lilongwe District. She has been married for 21 years and has 4
children 1 boy and 3 girls namely memory 21; precious 19;
George and Geoffrey 15. She went to school up to standard 8
and got selected to go to secondary school but could not start
due to financial problems which her parents were experiencing.
She got married to Mr.George Masamba who was working in the
Army by then and he encouraged her to continue with education
after bearing the four children.
She joined the secondary school from form 1 up to 4 and got 37 points at Malawi school certificate of
education exams. After finishing form 4, she started teaching at a Kalumbu Primary school and later at
Dzuka Private School. She taught from 2007 to 2009 and then joined Evangelical Association of Malawi
in 2010 and was trained as Home based care worker. She was working as a volunteer and at the same
time continued with farming.
There was a sensitization meeting organized by Care Malawi where WE-RISE Project and ONE Project
were introduced. There was a need to identify volunteers and she was selected as promoter under ONE
Project. This opened her eyes as she was trained as a promoter focusing on nutrition and hygiene for the
community. She got involved in sensitizing community members who were members of VSL in the
community. Every area under the jurisdiction of group village head was requested to have a
representative. She belonged to two Care projects namely ONE and WERISE hence was selected to be
trained on energy saving stove under WERISE Project. 66 people (2 from every GVH) were trained and all
the practical training took place at her house where all the participants were meeting for training. She is

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a member of Sanga village saving group where she has
been a member for 6 years saving and borrowing. She used
part of her savings during share out to buy four pigs and
also used the money to buy food.
She benefited a lot from the nutrition element. I was
wondering whenever I could see a good looking health
person from the town and thought people from the village
could not look good, but after the training on nutrition and application of the nutritional methods, I
discovered that even people from the village could look good if they followed the nutritional messages
She explained. I adopted good nutritional practices and was able to see change at my household she
added.
The skills gained through Energy saving stove training and the practical aspect of making stoves
contributed to income. For example she moulded 5 stoves and sold at K5000. This is a good business as
it help in protecting the trees as people use few firewood as compared to the traditional methods.
In terms of saving she saved the money as follows:

In 2010, MK15,000
In 2011, MK21,000 she got a goat during sharing out instead of cash
In 2012, Mk17,000She also got a goat instead of cash
In 2013, MK27,000 she got 24,000 because she had an outstanding loan of MK3,000
In 2014, the group did not share as it was reported that the money was borrowed by the non
members
In 2015, she got MK36,200
In 2016, she has currently saved Mk3,200 (3 months only)

She borrowed money from the group and invested in agriculture production focusing on tobacco
and in 2015 she got MK82, 000 from tobacco sales.
She considers the skills gained in nutrition and making energy saving stove as the most significant
change that shall live in her forever.
Its only when I am health that I can contribute to savings and other development work, therefore
nutrition has positively impacted on my life she said
Making energy saving stoves making use of local materials like soil, its a good business as more
people are aware of the benefits.
She will continue making stoves and generate money and at the same time use nutritional best
practices to keep health and continue saving.

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George Masamba was born in 1968 and is happily married to Juriet. George has been supporting the
wife and encouraging her to participate in development work at community level. When WE-RISE
Project introduced energy stove making, I developed interest to participate even though I was not a
members he shared. I participated fully with my wife and the group of 66 community members in
the training and emerged to be one of the best in moulding stoves he said. The practicals for
energy stove making was done at Mr. and Mrs. Masambas compound who volunteered land for the
activity. I was involved in building the kiln for the community to use for burning the stoves and this
kiln is within my compound George added.
WE-RISE Project introduced the initiative of
energy saving stoves to TA Chiwere and
George Masamba was involved in training
communities of TA Chiwere on how to
construct a good kiln for burning the stoves.
WE-RISE gave me a skill and this shall be in
me and my family till death. Even my
children are experts in moulding the energy
stoves because they have been observing
and practicing while I was teaching the communities he said. The skill in moulding the stoves has
created a new avenue of generating income for the household.

Conclusion
Project participants from TA Kalumbu demonstrated the benefits achieved through the
implementation of WE-RISE Project. The most significant change stories are in the eyes of the people
as they see and reflect how the situation was before the implementation of the Project and now
All the people whose stories are in this booklet gave consent to have their stories published and
shared.
Bravo to all households in the communities who diligently demonstrated the spirit of volunteerism
and commitment to bring change.

WE-RISE Project

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