MPAMBA VISION WORKSHOP
EMPOWER MALAWI CONDUCTS VISION WORKSHOP IN MPAMBA
Hi everyone, Bright Msuku here with some good news. In the mid of 2014 Empower Malawi extended its projects to a new area of Mpamba in Nkhata-Bay district. Mpamba is a vibrant agro based marketing area. Approximately Mpamba has 38 villages and an approximate population of 10, 000 people. The area is under the jurisdiction of Traditional Authority Timbiri- a senior chief. Empower is implementing this project with financial support from Reho Travel, a BCorp Australian Company.
Here is a brief write up on the very recent Vision Workshop (VW) ably facilitated by Alick Banda and myself from 18-20 February 2015. The VW was organized to enable the community to come together to brainstorms on their challenges and create a 5 year vision to be achieved using the existing resources.
Looking at the diversity of the project, the VW involved other stakeholders like Malawi Union of Credit Unions (MUSCCO), World Vision and Department of Agriculture. The representative from MUSCCO made a very good presentation about Savings and Credit Cooperatives which helped open people eyes more in terms of development goals.
PARTICIPATION: The 3 day Vision Workshop was attended by 287 people
Part of the VW participants
Methods used: Various participatory approaches were used to help people brainstorm and identify their challenges and their existing resources. Village maps, Resource maps and Stakeholder analysis were used. A river code role-play was used to demonstrate to people to understand where they are coming from, where they are and where they want to be in the near future. 42 Community Mobilisers (CMs) who had been trained prior played a vital role in explaining various development theories to their fellow community members. For example how most NGOs are focused on handouts and its consequences.
BRIGHT MSUKU explains the river crossing role-play to the participants
Goal Setting: Three goals came out after the Vision Workshop of which people are curious to achieve by the year 2020.
- Dairy farming
- Food security
- Maize milling business
These top three goals came out from 16 priority themes which people raised and Priority Ranking was used to identify the top 3 priority goals. This was very exciting as everybody took part and voiced their views.
The picture shows a Community Mobiliser helping a lady to cross an imaginary river while showing her where to step. White papers on the ground represent stones and 2 lines of bricks symbolizes the river banks
Mr. Nkukuyu of MUSCCO presenting on how a SACCO works. Discussing how Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLA) can combine to form a Savings and Credit Cooperative (SACCO).
Priority ranking of development themes is handled in groups e.g. men, women and youth and then brought together in plenary discussions.
Until next time, Cheers!
BRIGHT MSUKU
