Malawi has wrapped up a £8 million (about 14 billion) initiative that exemplified Scotland’s commitment to unlocking financing for least developed countries worst affected by climate change.
During the shutdown at Sunuzi in Zomba, Michael Makonombera, deputy director of environmental affairs in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Climate Change, said the five-year project offered numerous lessons on how to strengthen vulnerable communities’ capacity to anticipate, absorb and overcome climate shocks.
He challenged development partners and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to avoid piecemeal interventions that leave vulnerable communities ill-prepared to face disasters made more frequent and severe by climate change.
Makonombera stated: “As one of the least developed countries, Malawi needs the support of partners like the Scottish Government to cope with climate shocks.
So, partners coming to work with our people should learn from the Climate Just Communities project. They should come with a full package that will fully empower the people by the time the projects phase out.”
He said closing of aid taps is a call for affected countries like Malawi to become creative and innovative to close the financing gap amid low commitment to fulfill their financial pledges for climate action.
Developing countries like Malawi suffer the worst impacts of climate change, but African governments and activist say financial inflows remain scanty and slow.
At CoP26, the United Nations Climate Change Summit held in Glasgow in 2021, Scotland became the first developed nation to pledge dedicated funding to support vulnerable nations tackling climate-related destruction.
The Scottish Government initially pledged £1 million, but later established a £36 million Climate Justice Fund to address climate injustice and support vulnerable communities in the Global South.
The push gave did not just give rise to a special loss and damage fund adopted at CoP27 in Egypt.
It resulted in the Climate Just Communities (CJC) project that targeted seven districts across Malawi along with parts of Zambia and Rwanda.
According to CJC project director Anne Brady, it has reached over 100 000 people in Zomba, Neno, Chikwawa, Machinga, Karonga, Salima and Phalombe to entrench climate justice and community resilience.
She thanked local communities for taking ownership and leading roles to make the project a success.
The interventions included goat-sharing, village savings and loans groups, enhanced water supply for vulnerable communities, irrigation schemes to beat erratic rainfall and farming techniques that help farmers harvest more amid climate change.
“I hope CJC has played its part to empower you to respond and adapt better to climate change. We didn’t do this for our legacy, but the good of the communities that we work with. Climate change is going nowhere and Malawi is hit hard even though it contributes so little to greenhouse emissions fuelling global warming,” said Brady.
Brady disclosed that the Scottish Government’s Climate Justice Fund will finance a bridging year to cement the gains attained in the past five years and provide a springboard to a resilient future.
Dai Global implemented the project in partnership a diversity of nongovernmental organisations, including Oxfam, World Relief Malawi, Water Witness, Link Education International, Evangelical Lutheran Development Service and Catholic Development Commission.
Other players included the Organisation for Sustainable and Social Economic Development Initiative, Circle for Integrated Community Development, Civil Society Network for Climate Change and Churches Action in Relief and Development.
Traditional Authority Ngwelero of Zomba commended the project for helping participating communities to stand on their feet and join hands to lessen the impact of climate shocks.
“The change is there for all to see. We can see the difference in our livelihoods, the way we care for the environment and how our people prepare for hardship caused by climate change,” he said.
