Federation Sensitize Community leaders on Slum Upgrading

Chinsapo community leaders

The Malawi Federation conducted a sensitization meeting on slum upgrading with community leaders from Chinsapo, one of the two informal settlements (the other one is Mtandire) that have qualified for a pilot upgrading  project in the City of Lilongwe. The meeting, which took place at CCODE offices on Tuesday March 9,2011, was attended by chiefs, village heads as well as Traditional Authority Malili from the area.

"This has been a very fruitful meeting. At first we had fears. We heard stories that the Lilongwe City Council (LCC) was coming with graders to pave roads and demolish our homes. But the truth is that this our project and whatever is going to happen will come from us and we are happy with that," explained a visibly excited T.A Malili.

Previously, rumours were rife in Chinsapo Township that the Federation was conspiring with LCC to force development on the people in the area.  CCODE and the Federation are main  implementing partners with LCC in the informal settlement upgrading project funded by the Bill and Melinda  Gates Foundation under Global Programme for Integrated Municipal Governance.

CCODE and the Federation will carry out community mobilization campaigns, profiling and enumerations among other activities under the project. The project is expected to bridge the longstanding gap between communities and the Council, increase community participation in planning of the City and make LCC more responsive to people's   needs.

Federation trains "Community Mobilisers" in Blantyre

In a bid to upscale adoption of Ecosan toilets  and increase access to water to the Urban poor in the City of Blantyre, the Federation in Malawi continues to train community members in Ecological sanitation toilets and loan application procedures for water connections.

Training in progress: Participants listening attentively

The training, which started yesterday March 3, 2011 and closes today, is covering management of Ecosan toilets, sanitation and water loan application procedures and how users can effectively utilize manure and urine from the toilets in addition other areas.

Among the participants of the the training were Ecosan builders, Federation leaders and community members. Ecosan toilets have become a viable sanitation technology as they save space in the face of swelling urban population due to rapid urbanisation currently pegged at 5.22 percent and one of the highest in the world. The majority of the urban poor have no access to piped water.

Malawi Federation Unveils Daily Savings Trophies

The Malawi Homeless People's Federation has unveiled trophies at both region and district levels and Blantyre is February 2011 winner of the regional trophy for the Southern region. Blantyre district has tumbled eight other district after registering a record of MK 276,259.00 in daily savings from 333 active centres.

The daily savings a.k.a Makhodo refer the money that members of the Federation save in groups/ centre to meet their individual future needs. Apart from saving their money, the members also benefit from borrowing the money from the groups to start small businesses as well as paying school fees for their children among other things.

CCODE in alliance with the Federation has introduced the trophies to steer competition among the savings groups and to promote a savings culture among the poor in all the four regions and 28 districts in Malawi. Savings are a form of security for future expenditure and economic self sufficiency.

 (Left: Champions: Members of Blantyre District Federation. The small trophy has gone to Angelo Goveya Centre, which had the highest savings in Blantyre district)

                                                         This is how the districts saved

"Blantyre has won now and they should not think that they will retain the trophy...We are coming to get it to Mulanje next month..."- Mulanje district leader. Mulanje came second.

Breaking the taboo

These pictures are wonders of Ecological sanitation toilets.  The healthy crops you see don't  get their nutrients from artificial fertilizers from factories or the compost manure made from kitchen waste. They feed on humanure- decayed faecal matter harvested from Ecological sanitation toilets. Shit is fortune. Break the taboo.

 (Photos from Mchenga Utuwa Federation, Mzuzu

The market cost of artificial fertilizers is not affordable to the bulk of the poor Malawians. The Government of Malawi introduced the Fertilizer subsidy programme to ensure that most of the poor Malawians have access to the commodity. Poor people get coupons to use when buying the fertilizers. Sadly not all poor people can access the commodity. And this subsidy programme will not be there forever. But there is something that can last forever and is available to everyone: Manure from Ecosan toilets.

The Malawi Homeless People's Federation advocates for improved sanitation through adoption of sustainable technologies and community-driven initiatives.

HALALA English version coming soon

 Halala English version draft

World toilet day: the Malawi Federation way

World statistics on sanitation are scary and heart wrecking: 2.6 billion people are living without adequate sanitation. Yet this figure cannot tell what it means to live without proper sanitation. It cannot illustrate the plight of sub-Saharan women in face of no proper toilets. In Malawi the majority of the population uses pit latrines. However, open defecation in some areas is widespread. And when it comes to pit latrines, the sight of them is gusty. 

The Federation has launched a sanitation project that will target all the six districts in the northern region. The photo on the left shows the baseline conditions in the region. Below is an Ecological sanitation toilet that has been constructed beside this tattered "latrine"

People in the northern region of Malawi will now access soft loans to construct Ecosan toilets. It is time to tone down on rhetoric. It is time to match word with ACTION. 

Watch this Space

Watch this Space. Homeless but Not Hopeless. This is Malawi Homeless People's Federation. We are here to stay.