By Shankar Chatterjee
I had the opportunity to visit some African countries, such as Eritrea, Namibia, Egypt, etc., and observed people suffering from various issues such as poverty, unemployment, health, etc. Of course, I did not visit Malawi, but one organization, Concern Worldwide US, has initiated the country’s development. Before discussing this, I wish to mention a few lines about Malawi. This is a landlocked country in southeastern Africa. It has spectacular highlands and extensive lakes and occupies a narrow, curving strip along the East African Rift Valley. Lake Nyasa, known in Malawi as Lake Malawi, accounts for over one-fifth of the country’s total area.
Most of Malawi’s population engages in cash crops and subsistence agriculture. The country’s exports consist of the produce of both small landholdings and large tea and tobacco estates. Malawi has received a significant amount of foreign capital as development aid, which has contributed greatly toward exploiting its natural resources and has allowed Malawi to, at times, produce a food surplus. Nevertheless, its population has suffered from chronic malnutrition, high rates of infant mortality, and grinding poverty—a paradox often attributed to an agricultural system that has favoured large estate owners.
Most Malawians reside in rural locations. The country’s few large urban centres include Lilongwe, the capital, and Blantyre, the seat of the country’s judiciary (britannica.com/place/Malawi/People).
Malawi is officially the Republic of Malawi, and formerly known as Nyasaland, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa. It borders Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast, and Mozambique to the east, south, and southwest. The total area of Malawi is little more than 118,484 square kilometres, and it has an estimated population of 19,431,566 (as of January 2021). Malawi’s capital and largest city is Lilongwe. Its second-largest is Blantyre, its third-largest is Mzuzu, and its fourth-largest is its former capital, Zomba. It was the first capital city of Malawi before being changed to Lilongwe (Wikipedia).
The newsletter dated April 25, 2024, sent to me by Colleen Kelly, CEO of Concern Worldwide US, mentioned, “I visited our programs in Malawi, and I’m here to tell you about a community of women living in extreme poverty who are turning waste into economic opportunity. In Lilongwe, the capital city, the current population of 1,276,000 (about the population of New Hampshire) is expected to double by 2050. The problem they face is two-fold: first, there is little to no formal waste management in the heavily populated informal settlement, and second, the women face limited access to the opportunities essential to creating a sustainable livelihood.” Renewable Energy for Sustainable Environmental Transformation (RESET) aims to create economic opportunities for women living in extreme poverty in Lilongwe Urban by mobilizing them to create a waste management enterprise, which collects and sorts previously uncollected waste and transforms it into biogas, fertilizer, and recycled goods development took place.
“Each working group, comprised of around 25 women, is tasked with collecting waste from the community, producing compost manure, sorting plastic, glass, and metal waste, and managing the bio-digesters for biogas and bio-fertilizer production. By producing organic fertilizer, communities can:
o Reduce the need and cost for imported chemical fertilizer
o Increase soil nutrients
o Promote soil regeneration through improved soil fertility and structure.”
Through the RESET program, converting waste into clean energy and organic fertilizer will reduce emissions from wood and charcoal used for cooking, freeing up time for education and employment and reducing the risk of gender-based violence (GBV) associated with wood collection.
The fertilizer produced can substitute imported chemical fertilizer at a fraction of the cost, contains more nutrients, promotes soil regeneration, and improves soil fertilization — making for better agricultural outputs for the community and a business opportunity for the women’s groups.
It is pertinent to mention that Malawi is disproportionately affected by climate change and heavily reliant on female-led agriculture. Disrupted weather patterns and severe climate events make sustainable livelihoods and food security difficult.
Prof Shankar Chatterjee, Hyderabad
References
Cerniglia, F., Saraceno, F., & Watt, A. (2021). The great reset: 2021 European public investment outlook (p. 258). Open Book Publishers.
Gielen, D., Boshell, F., Saygin, D., Bazilian, M. D., Wagner, N., & Gorini, R. (2019). The role of renewable energy in the global energy transformation. Energy strategy reviews, 24, 38-50.
Lange, S., Tilman, S., Dencik, L., Dietz, T., Ferreboef, H., Hankey, S., … & Staab, P. (2022). Digital Reset. Redirecting Technologies for the Deep Sustainability Transformation.
Sharma, S. N., Chatterjee, S., & Dehalwar, K. (2023). Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme: Challenges and Opportunities. Think India Journal, 26(1), 7-15.
Suki, N. M., Suki, N. M., Sharif, A., Afshan, S., & Jermsittiparsert, K. (2022). The role of technology innovation and renewable energy in reducing environmental degradation in Malaysia: A step towards sustainable environment. Renewable Energy, 182, 245-253.
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