LIVING WATERS CHURCH
EAGLES RELIEF AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME
BLANTYRE, MALAWI
PROGRAMME
PLAN: November 2002 – March 2003
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Eagles Relief and Development Programme of Living Waters
Church, Malawi, is seeking funding for its food relief and security programme
for the period from November 2002 up to March 2003. Living Waters is the
fastest growing church in Malawi. It was set up in 1985 in Blantyre and has now
planted churches throughout the country, with a central church in each region
to oversee the branches. It has also set up the Wings of Eagle Trust,
registered in 1995, to carry out relief, development and educational work.
Under the banner of this trust, it has established Chisomo Children's Club to
work with children on the street; an international Bible school; a school, and
now, Eagles Relief and Development.
Eagles Relief and Development was set up in
September 2002 in response to the impending food crisis in Malawi. Analysts
were predicting a worse situation of food shortage than had been experienced
during the 2001/2 season. As a church, Living Waters believes that it has a
responsibility to help people holistically – physically, mentally, emotionally
and spiritually – and therefore set up a group of trustees to address the
current situation. The programme began by carrying out relief distribution in
the Northern region of Malawi in areas identified by the church, government and
traditional leaders as most in need. Those who benefitted from the distribution
were selected from the communities according to their level of need, regardless
of whether they were from within or outside of the church. The trustees also
perceived, however, that a key priority was to build up peoples’ ability to
address their own needs in the future so that they would not continue to be
dependent on short-term food aid.
The aims of the programme are therefore to
complement efforts by government, donors and NGOs to address people’s pressing
need for food aid in the current crisis; to build community capacity in the
area of longer term food security; and to pilot a project to mobilise church
and community to deal with issues of concern to them, whether food security or
other areas such as HIV/AIDs, education and health. Programme activities
planned for this project period include sensitisation of church leaders in ways
to guide and counsel their communities to maximise the existing resources; food
security inputs in return for work in a pilot district; community needs
assessment and mobilisation in pilot communities; and setting up a Bible School
module in working with the poor to train future leaders.
Currently, Eagles Relief and Development has
received some funding from UK churches that is being used in the food
distribution. Tear Fund UK has also provided training for members of the
steering group in ‘Principles and Practices of Relief Distributions’ and in
‘Training of Grassroots Structures in Disaster Management’. Living Waters is
also committing its own support to the programme through unpaid time by its
members and through organisation and coordination of activities. The project
time-span covers the key hunger period in Malawi, but the church is planning to
develop a longer-term programme from this entry point. The total budget for the
programme operating costs is $45,784
/ £29,155; and $12,221 / £7,782 is needed as capital costs to set up the longer term
programme.
Beneficiaries
The
primary beneficiaries of the programme in its first phase will be the most
vulnerable members of communities in the selected areas. Although the work will
be carried out through local church structures, the beneficiaries will not be
restricted to church members, but to any who are in need.
Members
of communities throughout the 3 regions of Malawi where Living Waters churches
are established will also benefit indirectly through the skills, attitudes and
knowledge imparted.
Main Programmes
· Sensitisation
and training of church leaders
· Food
security inputs for work in pilot district
· Community
assessment and mobilisation in pilot communities
· Development
of a Bible school module in relief and development for new church leaders
BACKGROUND
Malawi
is now considered the poorest country in the world that is not either involved
in, or recovering from, civil war (UNDP Human Development Report 2002). It also
has one of the most unequal income distributions where the richest 20% of the
population consumes 46.3% of goods and services, compared to the poorest 20%
that consumes only 6.3% of them. 60% of the population is estimated to live
under the poverty line and 49% to be stunted because of long-term
mal-nourishment (WFP, 2002).
The
socio-economic indicators for Malawi are both appalling and deteriorating. GNP
per capita is estimated at US$210. Life expectancy for people in Malawi has
decreased to 39 years due to the HIV/AIDs pandemic that is estimated to be
affecting up to 25% of the population in urban areas (Malawi Poverty Reduction Strategy
Paper 2002). The government estimates that there are now more than 2 million
orphans out of a total population of 11 million people. Only 11.2% of adults
over 25 years of age have completed primary school, and only 6.2% of women.
Despite the introduction of free primary education, the net enrolment rate has
remained at 78%. Only 58% of the population is literate, while the female
literacy rate is 44%. Infant mortality is at a rate of 104 deaths and under-5
mortality at 189 deaths per 1000 live births.
Malawi’s
economic base is agriculture in which up to 85% of the population are engaged
(Oxfam 2000) and which generates up to 95% of foreign exchange earnings.
Studies in food security indicate that three quarters of the population go hungry
for a quarter of the year. Malawi is over-dependent on the very drought
sensitive maize crop (WFP, 2002). In addition to this chronic poverty, in early
2002, Malawi suffered the worst recorded famine. Estimates of the resulting
hunger-related deaths range from several hundred to several thousand. The
causes of this famine are a complex combination of different factors, ranging
from underlying vulnerability to inadequate policies (the Malawi famine of
2002: IDS, Sussex, 2002). Localised
floods in 2001/2 reduced the maize harvest, and left a deficit estimated at
600,000MT. Reactions to the shortage were slow, both from donors and
government, and the crisis was compounded by the sale of Malawi’s Strategic
Grain Reserve and concerns over issues of governance. The existence of a famine
situation was only recognised in February 2002, when civil society and media
presented irrefutable evidence of hunger-related deaths. These immediate causes
were exacerbated by the underlying vulnerability of poor Malawians who were
already struggling as a result of declining soil fertility, the demographic and
economic consequences of HIV/AIDs, restricted access to agricultural inputs in
the 1990’s and the relative neglect of the small-holder agricultural sector.
Deepening poverty and a culture of dependency (with a dependency ratio of 99.6%
- Oxfam 2000) destroyed other coping mechanisms and buffers.
Currently,
Malawi is already experiencing an even worse food crisis than early in 2002,
and production forecasts predict a further 5% decline in the maize harvest and
a deficit of 650,000MT without even taking into account premature consumption
of green maize. External factors, such as the collapse of the agricultural
economy in Zimbabwe, have led to higher prices for maize. The World Food
Programme (WFP) is working in conjunction with Malawian government and civil
society to address this deficit through emergency operations that began in July
2002 and will continue through to the end of March 2003. They estimate that,
between the period of December 2002 and March 2003, 29% of the population
(3,250,000) people will be in need of food assistance. By the end of 2002, WFP
aims to provide general food rations for 3,100,000 people identified as those
most vulnerable.
While
government and donor efforts are under way to deal with the current food
crisis, there remains a concern that the underlying causes and vulnerability of
the people are not being addressed and that relief efforts could result in
increased dependency and a worse situation. A study into the causes,
consequences and policy lessons from the 2002 famine carried out by the
Institute for Development Studies, UK, and commissioned by Action Aid, Malawi,
concluded that, while government and donors should work together to address
food security, there was also a need for a sensitisation campaign to include
both awareness raising of the people’s right to food, but also to reduce the
dependency culture in Malawi ” (IDS 2002).
“Communities need empowerment in the sense of mobilising themselves to help themselves
The
experience of Living Waters during the food crisis of 2001/2 demonstrated that
the situation was greatly exacerbated by loss of hope among the poor that meant
that they did not work their own fields or use their existing resources to the
best advantage; by expectation of outside help as the only answer; and by lack
of knowledge over food storage and planning for family consumption. Pastors who
deliberately sought to encourage people to work hard in their fields and who
offered them practical advice and guidance, found that their communities made
it through the hunger season better than expected. Living Waters street
children programme, Chisomo Children's Club, had similar experiences in the
heart of the food crisis. Social workers found that, as they reintegrated
children back into their families and communities, planning, discussing and
counselling the families over the way forward and strategies to survive the
crisis, enabled families to manage and regain hope for the future.
Malawi’s
Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (2002) places empowerment at the core of its
approach, stating that the poor should not be seen as helpless victims and
passive recipients, in need of hand-outs.
“Instead the poor are seen as masters of their own destinies. The role of government and its partners is therefore to create the conditions for the poor to reduce their own poverty”
This
project aims to both recognise the short term need for food aid among the
poorest people and to complement general food relief with strategies for
building community capacity and reducing vulnerability for the future. It is
piloting a church/community development process that will enable people to
address their long-term needs, not only in food security, but also in other key
areas such as health, HIV/AIDs and education. Living Waters has a unique
opportunity to develop this process throughout the country because of the
strategic way in which it has grown and extended throughout Malawi and because
of the great human resource capacity within the main church in each region
coupled with the local knowledge and experience of its rural churches.
The
district of Chikwawa in the Southern Region has been selected for the pilot
project because of the high level of vulnerability of people there, both in
this current food crisis but also through successive years. According to the
July-August VAC assessment, the highest degree of vulnerability is to be found
in the Southern region with Chikwawa having 35% of its people in need of
emergency aid. It was also selected because of the capacity of the churches in
that region, who area already taking some action in the area of food security.
ACHIEVEMENTS TO DATE
The
first focus of Eagles Relief and Development has been in the Northern region of
Malawi as other relief efforts have tended to concentrate more on the South.
Working in conjunction with the local agricultural offices, the government
District Commissioner, and the local Living Waters churches in each district in
the North, it is currently distributing 50kg bags of maize to the most needy
families. Distribution of 800 bags of maize has already been completed in the
Karonga district and distribution for Mzuzu and Nkhata Bay is currently
underway, leaving Mzimba, Rhumpi and Chitipa districts to be completed in
November 2002.
The
most needy people in each community have been identified through discussions
with and information from the local agricultural office, the District
Commissioner, the group village headmen and village chiefs, and the local
church. In each area, those in charge of Living Waters distribution have
checked the identified list of needy recipients through visits and meetings in
each location.
Learning
from these first activities and from information gathered from the World Food
Programme, Oxfam, Action Aid, CARE, World Vision and the church’s own
experiences, the Eagle Relief and Development trustees have appointed a
steering group to develop and manage a longer term food security and church /
community mobilisation programme that addresses the underlying dependency
problem and complements general food relief taking place in the country. The
programme is being coordinated by a Relief and Development Officer with
experience working in relief and food security programmes. They have now
completed the training of 80 church leaders in the Southern Region and 50 in
the Central Region. Each church has made an action plan for working on food
security issues with the community. Eagles has also identified Chikwawa in the
Southern region for the pilot programme. It is working with the Evangelical
Association of Malawi in the distribution of food aid in 3 locations in
Chikwawa until March as part of the World Food Programme. It is now planning
the longer term food security programme for that area to help reduce peoples’
vulnerability for the future.
PROGRAMME ACTIVITIES
FOR NOVEMBER 2002 - MARCH 2003
All programme planning and activities will be based
on the principles laid out in the Red Cross Code of Conduct. Sphere project
guidelines will be used to help plan and evaluate the activities. Participative
activities will be drawn from a range of methods comprised in the Participatory
Learning and Action (PLA) approach.
1)
Sensitisation and training of church leaders
Ø Living
Waters church will organise a sensitisation and training workshop in each
region of Malawi in the month of November 2002, based at the central churches
in each region – Mzuzu for the Northern region, Lilongwe for the Central region
and Blantyre for the Southern region.
Ø Each
workshop will last 3 days and cover the following issues:
o
current food insecurity status in Malawi
o
underlying causes of household food
insecurity
o the
role of the church in promoting food security
o
possible strategies for improving
household food security
o
approaches to mobilising and restoring
hope to the community
o
HIV / AIDs awareness
Ø The
workshops will be run by two facilitators – one with expertise in the area of
the church and development and another with agricultural expertise. Each church
will be invited to send the pastor or another key church leader along with a
farmer. Those chosen to attend should be people with a concern for the needs of
the community, ability to motivate and influence others and in leadership
positions within the church.
Ø The
workshops will take place in the month of November 2002, beginning in the
Southern region and then progressing to the Central and the North in order to
complete the sensitisation before the rains have set in.
2) Food security inputs for work
Objectives
Activities
This stage of the programme will take place from
December 2002 to March 2003 once the sensitisation of church leaders has been
completed
Ø Identify
the most needy districts in the Southern region for these activities through
data and information from the World Food Programme, donors and local government
and agricultural offices
Ø Verify
and compare the level of need between the two most needy districts through
consultation with church and community leaders in that area in order to select
one district for focus
Ø Identify
Living Waters churches in that district and carry out a specific envisioning
and training in food security for work approaches with at least 5 of them
Ø Facilitate
the process for to set up a church/community committee to organise the project,
comprising people from within the church and also representatives from the
community outside the church, ensuring a gender balance and representation of
different groups
Ø In
coordination with the church/community committee, carry out a participative
needs assessment with the community to identify key needs and areas of concern
Ø Based
on the needs assessment, identify both a community project that beneficiaries
can participate in, in return for food inputs and the kind of food input that
beneficiaries will receive. The community project will be a small and
manageable project that does not need big infrastructural or technical inputs.
Food security inputs may comprise specific food inputs or starter packs of
fertiliser and seed or other options such as livestock for rearing as food.
Ø The
church/community committee, together with the beneficiaries will decide on the
time-table for work and receiving of inputs in conjunction with the central
church facilitator
Ø The
central church will offer support where necessary in terms of facilitation,
expertise and basic materials for the community project
Ø A
5% provision of food security inputs will be made for those who are sick or
elderly and thus unable to work
Ø Monitoring
of progress will be carried out at community level by the local committee and
at regional level, by the regional church facilitator
3) Community
assessment and mobilisation in pilot communities
Objectives
Activities
This will take place from January – March 2003,
and will not be a finite project but the entry point to longer-term community
development and mobilisation
Ø Identify
2 communities for more in-depth work, based on levels of commitment, motivation
and action demonstrated in the food security inputs for work phase of the
project. The communities chosen will have the most dynamic committees and will
also demonstrate level of need
Ø The
communities themselves will carry out a participative review of the programme
to date, facilitated by the central church facilitator and village committee to
learn from successes and failures in the previous phase
Ø They
will carry out a further participative needs assessment and planning exercise
to identify action priorities and a strategy for dealing with the most pressing
need
Ø Together
the village committee and the central church facilitator will make an action
plan based on the identified priorities and specifying any outside support
required for the community to complete the work
Ø These
plans will then form the basis for the next stage of the programme to be
planned from April 2003
4) Training in relief and development for new
church leaders
Objectives
Activities
Ø Collect
materials and information from both Christian and secular development sources
to use in curriculum development
Ø Develop
and write a plan for a year’s module (15 sessions) in working with the poor
during November and December 2002 and detailed session plans for half of the
course
Ø Course
contents will include areas such as
-
God’s heart for the poor and marginalised
-
Who are the poor
-
Biblical principles and strategies for
addressing the needs of the poor
-
Approaches to community participation
including PLA
-
Developing positive attitudes for
development
-
Some technical knowledge in key areas
such as agriculture, HIV/AIDs, health protection and human rights
Ø Pilot
the first 8 sessions, beginning in January 2003 and continuing beyond the end
of the project span to the close of the Bible School year in August 2003
Ø As
part of the course, carry out an in-depth training workshop in PLA and give
students practical experience through doing needs assessment exercises in the
pilot district
Ø Evaluate
with the students at a half way point and at the end of the pilot course
Ø Refine
materials and develop rest of course
Ø Reevaluate
once those students are out in the field
MONITORING AND EVALUATION
The programme will be evaluated against its
achievement of specific outputs for each activity, as listed below:
1)
Sensitisation and training of church leaders
An
evaluation will be carried out with leaders at the end of each workshop both to
identify ways of improving the delivery and content of the workshop and to find
out how much they have understood. The regional head church staff will monitor
the impact of the workshop on church leaders and the community and church
members through visits to beneficiary churches and communities. Leaders will
also be asked to fill in an evaluation form at the end of the project period to
find out what they have been able to apply and what further training needs they
identify.
2)
Food security inputs for work in pilot district
The village committees and the church project
facilitator will be responsible for monitoring the work.
3) Community
assessment and mobilisation in pilot communities
The
Bible school students, together with the project facilitator, will participate
in the review and planning.
4) Development of a Bible school module in
relief and development
The
course development will be monitored through evaluations carried out with the
Bible school students and through an assignment designed to assess their
understanding of the issues
Their
understanding of the PLA training will be assessed by the project facilitator
through the work carried out in the communities
Living
Waters has already developed strong links with other churches of different
denominations working in the area of food security both within Malawi and
regionally. These relationships were developed or in some cases extended
through a workshop on food relief organised by the Evangelical Association of
Malawi and led and sponsored by Tear Fund UK. Out of the 16 organisations
represented there, closer links have been made with the Evangelical Baptist
Church of Zomba who have already been working in fertiliser and seed for work
programmes and the River of Life church, Zimbabwe, which is working both in
food relief and in a longer–term programme to increase agricultural production.
It is planned to extend the learning and relationship through exchange visits
with the Evangelical Baptist Church and further e-mail communication with River
of Life.
Living
Waters has also held discussions and shared ideas with other churches operating
inside and out of Malawi, including Elim Pentecostal church, the Lutheran
church and Jesus Alive Ministries.
Information
and advice has also been sought from the World Food Programme (WFP), from Oxfam
Malawi, from World Vision Malawi, from CARE International (lead NGO for the
WFP), from Action Aid and from Tear Fund UK.
In
the work already carried out in the Northern district of Malawi, Eagles Relief
and Development has worked in close cooperation with local government, police,
churches, agricultural offices and the media, and will continue to liaise with
them over the on-going project.
GENDER
As a church, Living Waters believes and teaches that
men and women are equal in Christ and it promotes this through developing women
in leadership. It is one of the few churches in Malawi that has appointed women
pastors and elders in their own right and has women on its international as
well as national councils. The Wings of Eagle Bible school has both female and
male students, and seeks to encourage women’s enrolment. In addition, the
Eagles Relief and Development trustees have appointed 2 women to develop the
steering action group.
This programme also recognises, however, that there
are many cultural barriers to women’s participation and leadership at local
church and community level. Through the community mobilisation process, it will
plan key actions to make sure gender issues are addressed in the appointment of
church/community committees, in the approach to participatory needs assessment,
planning and review, and among the beneficiaries.
SUSTAINABILITY
This
project will lead to long-term and sustainable change at community level as
well as short-term relief to the most needy. Through the activities, the
project will develop local church commitment and capacity to work with the
poor. In the churches throughout the three regions of Malawi, it will lay the
foundations for future church and community development action. In the pilot
district, it will facilitate the development of village level committees that
can continue to mobilise community participation according to their own needs.
The work will mobilise churches and communities to develop the knowledge,
attitudes and skills that will enable them to continue their own community
development process. The project will draw on the financial and human resource
capacity of the central regional church through voluntary support, initially
only relying on one full-time paid facilitator and one part-time paid
facilitator.
Out
of this short-term project, Eagles Relief and Development will lay the
foundations for a long-term and sustainable community mobilisation process,
learning from the pilot communities and extending the work to other communities
in the pilot district and then to other districts and regions. The work will
need only a small team of facilitators in each regional church to support a
development process that could extend through existing Living Waters structures
to cover the whole of Malawi. Once this project phase has been completed, the
village committees can also be trained in how to identify early warning
indicators of malnutrition and used as a basis for advocacy or relief work
before the situation becomes too severe. According to their own needs
assessment and planning, each community might develop further work in
agriculture and food security, or move more into any key are of concern such as
health, HIV/AIDs or education
HIV / AIDS
HIV/AIDS
awareness will be incorporated into every stage and activity of the project,
from the sensitisation and training for church leaders, through to the
envisioning and training of local church leaders and church/community
committees in the pilot district, through to the needs assessment and planning
in the pilot communities and in the Bible school module.
ORGANISATIONAL CAPACITY
The
Eagles Relief and Development programme is operating under the Registered
Trustees of the Wings of Eagle Trust of Living Waters Church. Living Waters is
the fastest growing church in Malawi and has been operational and registered in
Malawi for the last 17 years. It has an international Bible School in Blantyre,
and mission work in South Africa, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Switzerland,
the United States and Germany. It has grown strategically from the head church
in Blantyre through all 3 regions of Malawi, into the districts and then into
rural areas. It has over 100 churches within the country.
The
Board of Trustees for Eagles Relief and Development includes the President and
founder of Living Waters Church International; a lawyer; a National Bank
manager; an accountant; a finance director; and director of a parastatal.
The
steering group includes members with agricultural expertise and experience
(MBA); with field project management for World Vision (MBA); Living waters
pastors and Bible schoolteachers; an international development adviser (MEd);
and another with experience in business management. The World Vision Financial Capacity
Building Manager for Africa is also acting in an advisory capacity to the
steering group.
FUNDING
Eagles
Relief and Development is seeking funding for the current crisis period from
November 2002 to March 2003. The total
budget for the programme operating costs is $45,784 / £29,155; and $12,221 / £7,782 is needed as capital costs to set up the
longer term programme This proposal covers the whole programme costs
during that period. Eagles Relief and Development has already received support
from churches in the UK. Tear Fund UK will provide an exposure visit to Uganda
to explore how churches there are succeeding in mobilising their communities in
development work.
TIME
FRAME
The project time frame is from November 2002 through to March 2003, the key period of food crisis in the country. It is planned, however, to develop the longer-term programme from the foundations laid during this project phase.
CURRENT CONTACT DETAILS
Cathy
James
Living
Waters Church
Box
923
Blantyre
Malawi
Tel:
01637659 / 08832791 E-mail: intrac@malawi.net
BANK DETAILS
Eagles Relief Programme International
National Bank Churchill Rd Branch
Limbe
Blantyre
Malawi
Acct no: 01411 3085 1000