Millions for Malawi
Scotland to give £5.6 million to help people in one of
Africa's poorest countries
Millions of pounds of our money will be used to help change the
lives of women and children living over 8,000 miles away in
Malawi.
Over the next three years, the Scottish government will give a
total of £5.6 million to projects in the African country.
The money will be used to help women farmers, improve Malawi
schools, teach new skills to medical staff, and encourage more
women to get invovled in politics.
"Scotland has a special relationship with Malawi, whose people
are some of the poorest in the world," said Fiona Hyslop from the
Scottish government.
Hundreds of Scottish pupils have made their own links with the
country, doing joint work with partner schools and raising money
through charity events.
Students at Fortrose Academy in the Highlands, for example, are
working hard to raise money to help a school in Mulanje, Malawi, to
build a new community hall.
Celidhs, Burns suppers, cake sales and even pet sitting have all
helped to raise money for pupils to visit Mulanje and to go towards
the new building.
Many Scottish school children have even travelled to Malawi to
meet their partner pupils and see for themselves what life is like
in southern Africa. In the past seven years, more than 40 students
from Fortrose Academy have taken part in three different trips.
Another is planned for next month.
Does your school have links with Malawi? Tell us about
it on our discussion forum
here.
Click
here to try our Malawi quiz.
Lesson ideas and
suggestions
Click here to
watch a recording of our most recent Daily What
Newsround on Glow TV, featuring a special guest from the Scottish
SPCA.
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Millions for Malawi
Mending their ways: the forum that convinced husbands to
stop drinking family funds
Life is tough for many women in Malawi.
Not only are all household chores traditionally left to them,
but they are also expected to grow food for their families and help
their husbands to plant, grow and harvest crops in the fields.
And yet it is the men who sell the crops at markets and keep the
proceeds.
Elizabeth Phiri is a 36-year-old mother of four and farmer from
Msambo Village in Lilongwe, Malawi. For years Elizabeth worked
long, backbreaking hours in the fields to feed her family, while
her husband spent what little money they had on alcohol. She and
her children had to survive on just £14 a month.
Now Elizabeth has turned her life around, thanks to an Oxfam-run
project that helps farmers in her village.
The Village Farmers Forum (VVF) is one of 19 projects that will
share £5.6 million in funding over the next three years from the
Scottish government.
The Forum brings workers in the area together to talk about how
to run the local economy. Elizabeth and the other women in her
village convinced their husbands to share both the workload and the
money.
She and her family increased their earnings to around £47 a
month.
Elizabeth joined Msambo Village Farmers' Forum and during the
meetings, shared her problems with the others there.
Among them was seeing their husbands spending most of their time
in drinking dens, waiting for the harvest to sell the produce.
But after lengthy debates and discussion on the division of
labour within their households, Phiri's husband and other male
farmers began to realise the impact of their behaviour on their
families, and vowed to change.
She said: "We now share responsibilities in farming activities
and together we make collective decisions on what to do."
Oxfam Scotland will receive £382,238 for the project over three
years and it is hoped more than 15,000 female-headed households
will be helped towards improved income and security as a
result.
"Women often suffer the most from the effects of poverty and I
am pleased that five of these projects will specifically help women
and girls - saving lives, helping women to become more active in
their communities and empowering them to take up opportunities in
business and politics," said Fiona Hyslop, Scottish External
Affairs secretary.
Malawi's first ever female president, Joyce Banda, has just come
to power. It is hoped that this is a sign that prospects for women
in the country are looking up.
Other women's projects set to benefit from the Scottish funding
include a training programme for healthcare workers to cut the
number of women dying in childbirth; a learning centre to help
ecourage more women into politics; and Aiming Higher in Malawi
Schools, which is run by North Lanarkshire Council.
Does your school have links with Malawi? Tell us about
it on our discussion forum
here.
Click
here to try our Malawi quiz.
Lesson ideas and
suggestions
Click here to
watch a recording of our most recent Daily What
Newsround on Glow TV, featuring a special guest from the Scottish
SPCA.
Join the Daily What News Facebook group