Malawi

Women and children in a village in Malawi.

My name is Lloyd Simwaka. I am Progressio’s country representative in Malawi.

My country is one of the poorest in the world, ranked 166 out of 177 countries (UNDP ranking). What does that mean in reality? Well, it means that half the population lives below the poverty line, surviving on about 25p per day. It means one in five people can’t provide enough food for themselves.

That’s where Progressio comes in. We are working with local environment and farming organisations to help build sustainable livelihoods for small-scale farmers. That means helping introduce sustainable farming methods so that farmers can cope better with drought and can grow a range of crops to eat and sell. And it means helping to find ways of marketing and selling what small-scale farmers grow, so they can earn an income.

Then there’s HIV. Again, Malawi’s statistics don’t look great. One in seven 15-49 year-olds are living with HIV – one of the highest prevalence rates in the world. There are around 100,000 children living with HIV and a further 250,000 children orphaned by AIDS. So we are looking at ways we can add our expertise to Malawi’s efforts to tackle the epidemic and its consequences.

Malawi is Progressio’s newest country programme – we only started working here in 2007. It’s early days – but I believe we are already seeing significant results. I really think Progressio can make a big difference to the people of this country.