ActionAid Malawi continued to implement interventions aimed at eradicating poverty and social injustices and contributing to the attainment of sustainable development in line with the Country Strategy Paper V: Action for Social Justice, the Sustainable Development Goals, and Agenda 2063. The ActionAid Malawi work focused on three key priority areas, namely:
- Promoting and securing the realisation of women's, young women's, and girls’ rights.
- Building resilience in people living in poverty while strengthening women-led secure livelihoods, preparedness, and emergency response.
- Enhancing civic participation and state accountability for the redistribution of resources and delivery of quality, gender-responsive public services.
Under programme priority 1, ActionAid Malawi successfully implemented interventions aimed at advancing women and girls’ social, economic, and political empowerment. Most importantly, the organisation supported women-led allies both at local and national levels to campaign for gender-just economic policies. Thus, a total of 92 collectives comprising feminist groups such as women forums and young urban women forums were supported to challenge forms of patriarchy and violence. The achievement surpasses the CSP V baseline target by 127%.
In addition, a total of 22,503 individual women, young women, and girls have been empowered to challenge patriarchy that predisposes them to violence and exploitation. This contributes 48% of the CSP V baseline target.
ActionAid Malawi has further empowered 9546 women and girls to access the Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) response comprehensive service across all the impact areas. This contributes 24% to the baseline target set by CSP V. The organisation further facilitated access to sexual and reproductive health services for a total of 38059 women, young women, and girls, contributing 34% to the CSP V baseline target.
Under programme priority 2, ActionAid Malawi empowered a total of 2,742 women and youth to practice agro ecology as one way of contributing to resilience in the context of climate change and rising costs of farm inputs. This contributes 6% to the CSP V baseline target. Moreover, the organisation empowered 5489 women and youth in climate resilience to enable them to anticipate, prepare for, and respond to hazardous events, trends, or disturbances related to climate change. The achievement contributes 8% to the CSP V set baseline target. The organisation further built the capacity of 5365 women and youth with knowledge in emergency, humanitarian preparedness, and response. This contributes 14% to the CSP V baseline target.
Under programme priority 3, a total of 2, 024 women and young people were supported to assume leadership positions, especially in structures such as area and civil protection committees, reflect action circles, village development committees, and area development committees. This contributes 18% to the CSP V baseline target. The organisation also facilitated access to early childhood development (ECD) for 56,761 children, contributing 83% to the CSP V baseline target. In addition, a total of 14,667 learners transitioned to primary schools, contributing 278% to the CSP V baseline target.
ActionAid Malawi reached 229,049 adolescent girls and young women with HIV prevention programmes—defined packages of services—contributing 127% to the CSP V baseline target. This has been key in reducing the risks associated with the acquisition of new HIV infections among the AGYW and retaining those living with HIV in treatment and care programs. Remarkably, due to the organisation’s interventions, a total of 23,817 adolescent girls and young women tested for HIV and received their results. This contributes 200% to the CSP V baseline target.
Under Organisation priority areas, ActionAid Malawi conducted a successful country review model process that led to the establishment of an agile and fit-for-purpose structure to implement the CSP V and beyond. Moreover, the organisation developed a quality assurance and effectiveness framework to improve data capture, processing, and sharing for improved learning. The organisation further continued to leverage the proliferation of traditional and new media in profiling its work. The organisation also embarked on aggressive implementation of a robust fundraising strategy to effectively implement organisation and programme interventions. The organisation continued to mainstream key policies such as sexual harassment, exploitation, abuse, and whistleblowing policies as part of enhancing the culture of integrity and feminist leadership in ActionAid Malawi.