Raising Malawi

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The Raising Malawi Orphan Care Initiative is a humanitarian aid program designed to revitalize the lives of hundreds of thousands of underprivileged and at-risk children living in Malawi.

Raising Malawi provides financial support, volunteers and technologies (i.e., solar power, clean drinking water systems, internet service, etc.) to increase the quality of life for countless children and adults.

Raising Malawi is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

1 Organization History
2 Malawi Humanitarian Situation
3 Raising Malawi's Projects & Programs
4 Program Partners
5 Financial Oversight
6 See Also
7 External Links

[edit] Organization History

In 2005, Michael Berg (co-director of The Kabbalah Centre and bestselling author) and Madonna, co-founded Raising Malawi to provide financial resources for the direct physical and urgent needs of Malawi's orphans and vulnerable children, including: food, clothing, medical care, child advocacy, education and psycho-social support.

In January, 2006, Philippe van den Bossche (Executive Director, Raising Malawi) traveled to Malawi to meet with Traditional Authority leaders, government and non-governmental organizations (NGO). He worked to identify the needs of the children within the political, social, cultural, and economic frameworks of Malawi, and to determine what programs would produce viable results and bring positive change.

Between January 2006 and January 2007, Philippe traveled to Malawi eight times. As a result, Raising Malawi has formed partnerships with both government and non-governmental organizations.

In October 2006, Madonna traveled to Malawi under the auspices of the Raising Malawi organization. Madonna's journey to Malawi included visits to several orphanages.

[edit] Malawi Humanitarian Situation

Main article: Malawi food crisis

Life expectancy in Malawi is now as low as 36.5 years, five years lower than it was 50 years ago. This drop is due to the population's impoverishment, which is constituted by many factors, including:

 insufficient nutrition

 poor access to medical treatment

 low income (the mean per capita income in Malawi is less than $1 per day)

 insufficient school education

 spread of HIV/AIDS

 government economic restrictions

Health

Child mortality is 103/1,000. There are more than a million orphans, 700,000 of whom became orphans when their parents died of AIDS.

According to Malawi government estimates, 14.2% of the population are HIV-positive, and 90,000 deaths in 2003 were due to AIDS. Unofficial estimates based on private hospital entries give a HIV infection percentage of 30%.

Nutrition

Malawi's staple food is maize but like other countries in Southern Africa, Malawi has repeatedly been affected by famines since 2002, when food was scarce for almost one third of the population. In 2003, 30 percent of the population were affected.

According to a Food and Agriculture Organization report from June 2005, 4.22 million inhabitants of Malawi, ¼ of the population, would not have enough food in 2005 to survive. In the south of the country, the rate of the population affected will be between 55 and 76 per cent. In the end of November 2005, the first famine deaths were recorded.

These repeated famines are caused by different factors including:

 widespread monocultures

 poor distribution of fertilizers

 droughts

 government corruption

 widespread AIDS epidemic

 bilharzia

 malaria

Some relief organisations try to respond to the famine by distributing food parcels. The government also had a starter pack farm input programme for maize seed and fertilizer. The scheme was however subject to gross abuses and sometimes the poorest people did not receive any of the items that were purportedly earmarked for them. This program was discontinued by the Bingu wa Mutharika administration, which instead subsidised fertilizer for the local subsistence farmers. The government of Taiwan has also donated millions of bags of rice each year and has a permanent agricultural and medical technical aid mission in Malawi.

[edit] Raising Malawi's Projects & Programs

Capacity building for Network of Organizations for Vulnerable and Orphan Children (NOVOC)

NOVOC, a non-governmental organization, has been identified by the Ministry of Gender and Social Welfare of Malawi as a key component in achieving the goals of the National Plan of Action for Children. Raising Malawi occupies a board seat and is providing NOVOC with substantial financial aid and other resources to help NOVOC build the capacity of orphan care centers and other community based organizations throughout the entire country of Malawi.

As a result of Raising Malawi's funding and participation, NOVOC has moved to larger offices, increased its workforce by adding 10 additional employees, expanded its scope of activities, purchased a vehicle for further geographic access, and hosted a significant number of educational events for community based organizations and their managers.

Support for Community Based Organizations

In Lilongwe, the capital city of Malawi, Raising Malawi has identified six community based orgnaizations to provide finanical support to.

Most of these community based orgnaizations are Child Care Centers and were identified by NOVOC as efficient and well-managed. NOVOC participates in the distribution and accountability of the funding. The following is a list of these organizations:

 Somebody Cares

 Kindle Orphan Care

 Ministry of Hope

 Consol Homes

 Children of Hope and Destiny

 Chinansungwe CBO

 Save Orphans Ministry

Millennium Village

Working in conjunction with Dr.Jeffrey Sachs, former Special Advisor to former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and author of The End of Poverty, Raising Malawi has identified the village of Gimulara (population 6,000) in the Mchinji district (on the Zambian border) as the first “Millennium Village” to be funded.

Raising Malawi has pledged $1.5 million over 5 years to create economic, medical, educational, and social sustainability for its residents.

Orphan Care Center

In collaboration with Consol Homes Orphan Care Center, a local NGO, Raising Malawi has begun construction on a state of the art Orphan Care Centre, to house over 4,000 children. Consol Homes currently serves 12,500 orphans and vulnerable children.

In the first phase of development, this new facility will provide the following services:

• Preschool education

• Expanded feeding programs (with highly nutritious meals)

• Orphan affairs unit

• Support programs for “grannies” (women caring for orphan children)

• Playground

• Soccer pitch

• Demonstration garden, where children will learn to grow their own food

• Administrative office block for the overall management of Consol Homes

In addition to these services the new orphan care center will also provide two clean water sources complete with a bore hole and pump.

The cost to create the first phase of this new facility and provide ongoing budgetary resources is estimated at $550,000. The second phase of development will include primary school education, medical services, increased feeding capacity and additional psycho-social programs.

It is estimated that the new center will be open on March 2007.

SFK- Malawi

In 2006, Eight Malawian teachers have been hired and were brought to the Spirituality for Kids (SFK) Headquarters in Los Angeles for a comprehensive 12-week educational training program.

These teachers have returned to Malawi and have successfully co-created a specialized empowerment program for orphans. This psycho-support program provides children with the SFK curriculum as well as personalized mentorship and care (e.g., medical care, education, transportation, lodging, and other support).

The program has graduated a pilot group of 120 students from Consol Homes and Home of Hope Orphanage. SFK Malawi will begin soon begin offering classes to street kids living in Lilongwe.

SFK is currently offered as a non-religious after-school program through several secular community-based organizations in the United States, Europe, South America, and the Middle East.

SFK is based on the universal spiritual principles of sharing, caring, tolerance, human dignity and proactive behavior.

Meaningful Gifts & Important Items for Children

Raising Malawi has raised nearly one hundred thousand gifts and needed items for the children of Malawi. Four, forty-foot containers with toothbrushes, toothpaste, blankets, clothing, shoes, backpacks, soccer balls, musical instruments and other items are currently en route to or have arrived in Lilongwe.

All items have been distributed to tens of thousands of children through various CBOs supported by Raising Malawi.

Academic Support Network

The Raising Malawi Academic Support Network brings international researchers and scholars together to discuss solutions for the current health, social and economic issues facing Malawians.

This highly esteemed council consists of a multitude of professors and researchers with expert knowledge in African politics and Sociology.

Serving as a global “think tank”, the Academic Support Network use their qualifications to evaluate and critique the effectiveness of Raising Malawi, as well as provide meaningful insight for all future projects initiated under Raising Malawi.

Volunteer Malawi

Raising Malawi is in the process of developing a volunteer program. This new project will seek to utilize the commitment of skilled and unskilled volunteers, working in overseas and home-based positions.

Raising Malawi's overseas volunteers will travel to Malawi in 2007, to provide hands on assistance to the various community based orgnaizations supported by the organization.

Raising Malawi's home-based volunteers dedicate their time and efforts to fundraising, research, student activism, and awareness-building.

Restoration of Home of Hope Orphanage

Raising Malawi has advanced plans to recondition the Home of Hope Orphanage in Mchinji, Malawi.

Home of Hope currently provides over 500 Malawian infants and children with shelter, food, and clothing.

The rehabilitation of Home of Hope will address the critical and pressing needs of the orphanage, as well as the long-term plans to elevate Home of Hope to the highest standard of operation.

It is estimated that the immediate and secondary immediate needs of the orphanage will be provided by January 2007. Long-term plans to renovate the orphanage, which include the building of both a primary and secondary school, will be completed by November 2007.

[edit] Program Partners

Clinton Foundation

Millennium Villages Project

Consol Homes

Network of Orphans and Vulnerable Children (NOVOC)

Save Orphans Ministries

Somebody Cares

Children of Hope and Destiny

Ministry of Hope

Kindle Orphan Care Outreach

[edit] Financial Oversight

Raising Malawi has organized a diverse assembly of professionals with qualifications in law, accounting, social services, and other relevant areas of study that will examine the effectiveness of its financial contributions to all existing projects.

Members of the committee ensure that all funds donated by Raising Malawi are being administered with the highest degree of efficiency and accountability.

Reports on the fiscal management of Raising Malawi's donations are prepared and published by the Financial Oversight Committee quarterly.