Above 50 percent of Malawians are living in extreme poverty and that poverty has been credited to many factors; climate change and its effects being the prominent. Being a country in extreme poverty ranked number 8 poorest country in the word and one of Africa’s smallest nations, Malawi’s economy—largely dependent upon rain-fed crops—remains vulnerable to weather-related shocks. Food insecurity in rural parts is extremely high while Ranked 174 of 189 on Human Development Index. Hunger and malnutrition prevents learners from getting quality education as the abscond classes due to hunger, food insecurity related diseases or even in order to look for the next meal. Even the vegetables are expensive once rain season is over. This is why Green Sounds promote back yard garden.

Back yard garden initiative trains students in secondary schools and learners at primary schools to have gardens in the home back yard. This initiative was piloted at Mponela CDSS and yielded positive feedback as it:

• Saves the money that could used for buying vegetables and use it for something else for instance buying writing materials
• Save time as students don’t travel distance to go to the market to buy the vegetables. As the result the time is used for studying purposes
• Improves the nutrition of learners and other people in their homes. This reduces absenteeism
• Improves air recycling which enable learners in their homes to refresh, think and focus
• Its a form of Reuse which is waste management. The sacks and plastic basins which are used could have polluted their environment
• Above all also beautifies their homes

“Masterly”, the ability to demonstrate great skill takes a lot. Passion, Dedication, Time and of course great teacher. It is not easy to become a master in an field but what is not easy is not impossible.

We enrolled 20 girls and 20 boys into our program called green web. Green Web is a program where students are put into a club called green sound club. There they are trained by different professionals in different courses ranging from Nutrition, Micro-saving, Climate Change, Mental and Sexual health and Water, Sanitation and Health (WASH). the program is designed for one full academic year as an extra-curricular activity beside the normal lessons in secondary schools. The students are also drilled in green initiatives like Water Recycle, Waste to Energy and Self-irrigation schemes. During the completion of the program and upon masterly they are deployed to train learners from primary schools as a practice . When successful in the demonstration they are awarded certificates to vindicate their accomplishments.

in May 2022, 20 girls and 20 boys at Mponela CDSS were administered into Green Web and upon completion they were deployed to teach at Chidothe Primary School where they demonstrated masterly on the initiatives which they were tasked. The project recorded a lot of benefits including (1) Improved academic performance in Geography as a subject and English both writing and Spoken at secondary level (2) Turning of flower beds into Vegetable gardens (3) Establishment of a woodlot (4) Cultivated Musical and Poetry Skills among many

The fight against the impact of Climate Change requires all hands on the deck. The youth and women are very instrumental in this course as they are the most affected groups when climate change initiated disasters strike. Africa, Sub-Saharan in particular and Malawi in specific has been heavily affected from Heavy Storms, to stingy rainfall patterns resulting to food insecurity, poverty and even death. The youth must be in fore front fighting for the sustainability of their future.

Media is one of the very instrumental factor to win this fight, as it informs important developments as far as climate change is concerned. Taking information from global scale trickling down to local communities, this is important for people at grass root level to appreciate how climate change has affected other areas and relating the effects at local level. Media also ventures to teach people on new initiatives and technologies to adapt and mitigate the negative effects of climate change.

Community Radios have proven to be very paramount in community engagement as they are reachable and very convenient to the community and aligned to the needs and timing of the local listeners

It is therefore important to recognize the effort journalists behind the programs on community radios put to address climate change and environmental issues. This is the daily job of one young lady Gladys Chimphanga the Head of Programs, Producer and Presenter at Dowa Community Radio (DOWA FM)- 98.1MHz. Every Thursday she comes up with her 30 minutes radio program which she features different professionals and young people to address issues to do with environmental management and climate change. She has featured many of our students in her recent programs.

Indeed securing a sustainable future is just not an idea…. but a reality that requires all hands on the deck

Kudos Gladys! Kudos Miss Chimphanga!