Sunday, April 13, 2008

our mission

Our mission is to empower the church in Malawi to break the vicious cycle of poverty and hunger through sustainable agriculture.

We will be working with Emmanuel International missionaries (working in a variety of capacities, including AIDS programs, widow and orphan care, water and sanitation development, etc.) to help some 300 rural churches of the Evangelical Baptist Church of Malawi to develop and implement sustainable methods of agriculture.

Some of the things we may be doing:
  • introduce methods of farming that retain the moisture and nutrients in the soil through conservation farming,
  • invest in small scale irrigation and appropriate technologies to boost production,
  • encourage farmers to irrigate during the dry months to develop winter maize gardens and increase crop production,
  • promote crop and livelihood diversification,
  • explore and promote energy efficient cooking and food preparation methods that protect the environment and are in line with social expectations,
  • establish church-led community-based early warning system and disaster response plans that enables local churches and communities to be the first line of defence during droughts,
  • develop closer links between partners’ long-term food security and disaster response activities,
  • ensure interventions are sensitive to the specific needs of HIV/AIDS affected households by exploring low labour cost farming options and food aid approaches, and
  • establish farmers’ clubs around local churches to ensure that interventions are sustained, to channel market information, and give poor farmers a voice with suppliers, the government, and NGOs.

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the VanWoerdens in Malawi | Emmanuel International