BACKGROUND
CFED is dedicated to advocacy in education, political communication, climate change and community development. Its approach is to engage citizens to contribute to solving community problems. It mainly relies on donations from well-wishers and donors.
Co-founded by Albert Sharra and Gremson Swart, including others who joined before kicking off such as Albert Bisalomu, Litness Chaima, Vanessa Bender and Leshina Tapani, CFED was created in 2015 as a community initiative operating in Chilomoni Township in Blantyre, Malawi. The main objective was to help ensure all children within the township are in school. This included paying school fees, providing learning materials like school uniforms, notebooks, ballpoints, sanitary pads e.t.c. It expounded its operations to national level in 2017, and since 2018, CFED is operating in 19 out of the 28 districts of Malawi. In each district we have a partner school where we implement our projects.
MAJOR PROJECTS (2015-2024)
Tiwerenge Newspapers project is in 19 districts of Malawi benefiting 53 schools and a population of over 40 000 students in primary and secondary schools.
Bursaries programme for 103 students in secondary schools, but 17 are on full CFED bursary for three years each.
Girls Camps BT 2018, Blantyre 2019, Lilongwe 2019 @K600 000 per camp. Sponsored by Airtel Malawi, Wocaca, UDK Consultancy, MedHealth, Teras, John
Paul II IT & Leadership, Green Acre Initiative. We have been honoured to feature role models to inspire our girls i.e Mrs Vera Kamtukule, Mrs Maud Mwakasungula, Mrs Chikondi Suleman aka Find Codi.
Sanitary pads training 20018, 2019 and 2019 at K250 000 each and done alongside Girls Camps with same sponsors. We partnered Litness Sanitary Pads.
Political Communication training for journalist at Annie’s Lodge in Sept/October 2018. Journalists and 10 facilitators drawn from University of Malawi and sponsored by KAS Media Africa Programme of Germany at the tune of €15 000. Follow-up trainings were done online and costed €3000.
Elections reporting training for Journalists in June 2020 at MK2 million for the whole event. A total of 33 journalists and 6 facilitators. It was on zoom, money spent on data and paying facilitators.
- Check website for partner schools.
1.1 APPROACH AND CFED CORE PROJECTS
Currently, the organization takes a broader approach to solving community problems faced by poor families in Malawi. We serve as a centre for education where we devise solutions and interventions for specific challenges. We work in education, health, agriculture, climate change and community development. CFED Headquarters and offices are in Chilomoni Township in Blantyre City, Malawi. Physical Address: Plot number CL2/C/499, Chilomoni, 312212, Blantyre, Malawi. CFED was founded in 2015 and is in the process of securing sustainable financing to establish its permanent structures.
1.1.1 Leadership and Governance
CFED runs governance projects aimed at bridging the information gap and promote professionalism in different sectors of the economy. The initiative provides trainings to different groups and more priority is on improving the quality of journalism in Malawi.
From 11-12 October 2018, CFED with funding from KAS Media Africa from German trained 30 journalists drawn from different media houses in political communication and journalism ahead of the 2019 Malawi elections. The project was funded at the tune of about €15 000. See visuals below.
KAS Media Africa Programmes Director Brigitte Read below.
1.1.2 Tiwerenge Project
Tiwerenge (Let us read) is a newspaper reading project that buys newspapers for schools. The aim is to bring current affairs closer to students and also improving the reading culture among the school-going children. The project has benefited 53 schools in 19 out of 28 districts of Malawi. Some of the schools are: Muloza CDSS Vonken CDSS, Mulunguzi CDSS, Michiru CCAP Primary, Mulunguzi Primary, Lumbira CDSS and John Paul II Leadership & IT Institute in Chilomoni, Ntambanyama primary school, Thyolo Secondary School in Thyolo, Kankhate primary school in Mchinji, Mzuzu Government in Mzimba and Livingstonia CDSS in Rumphi. These schools have been receiving free copies of Weekend Nation newspaper and Malawi News published by Malawi’s leading newspapers, Nation Publications Limited and Times Group.
New schools for 2019 are Muloza CDSS, Vonken CDSS and Thyolo Secondary School. Each of the schools receives a Weekend Nation copy every week. The project budget is K720 000 (about $1000) and runs until December 2018. We welcome individuals who want to buy newspapers for their former schools. The cost is K40 000 (about $55) per year for a copy delivered to the school every Saturday. Watch a documentary below.
Tiwerenge Documentary
1.1.3. Girls Camps
CFED runs Girls camps which bring together school-going girls to interact and listen to motivational talks by role models. The objective is to give the young girls an opportunity to interact and meet women in careers they want to partake in future. This is to give them a sense of reality and believing that it is doable. The camps are held twice in a year at two different venues. In the picture below, you see Mrs Vera Kamtukule (seated L) and Mrs Maud Mwakasungula (seated 2nd from R) posing with girls holding their reusable sanitary pads (donated to us by Airtel Malawi) at Bwaila Secondary School in Lilongwe after a day long Girls Camp.
Hands-on practicals: making reusable sanitary pads
Climate change and recycling
Inspiring girls
1.1.4 Adopt a Child Project
Since its establishment, CFED has carried out a number of projects. One of the projects is Adopt a Child which has been working towards reducing the number of girls that drop out of school due to lack of basic school needs.
The project connects needy students to well-wishers to support their education. The support is either directly between the sponsor and the beneficiary or through CFED. This is open to any well-wisher willing to support a child in form of either cash or materials. About 100 girls have been assisted so far and over 50 are being assisted in different ways.
Some of the beneficiaries of CFED bursaries captured walking part of the 30km distance they walk to and from Lumbira CDSS. CFED later transferred Pemphero (R) to boarding school. In the picture above, she is arriving at Ngumbe CDSS.
WEBINARS
CFED has been running online seminars on digital society, bringing together experts to discuss topical issues i.e the impact of technologies on journalism, elections etc.
CLIMATE CHANGE
Since July 2024, CFED has diversified into climate change interventions. Under this project, CFED is working with beneficiaries of its interventions i.e. bursary to:
i Create Village Forest Committees to help with conservation of available forests
ii Work with communities to plant vegetative cover. We are working with communities that were affected by Cyclone Freddy in 2023 in Mulanje, Chiradzulo and Blantyre districts to help them plant trees along the riverbanks.
iii Document woodlots in communities earmarked for carbon trading.
iv Introduce communities to Carbon Trading and help them with certification of their woodlots and partnering them with NGOs in Carbon Trading in Malawi.
Remains of Mujiwa Village in Mulanje after Cyclone Freddy 2023.CFED plans to replant trees in the area.