People in Traditional Authority (T/A) Kameme in Chitipa District have expressed satisfaction with World Vision Malawi’s empowered world view initiative for transforming their livelihoods.
Narrating her story, Eliza Sichiola of Shumbi III Village said she underwent empowered world view trainings in 2023 and acquired knowledge and skills to venture into businesses and farming to improve her economic well-being.
She said: “We lived in absolute poverty before World Vision Malawi introduced the mindset change initiative.
“But then, the lessons opened our eyes. We discovered that we were living in abundance of natural resources such as land and water. Therefore, we utilised these to venture into farming.”
Sichiola said that after selling the produce, she bought pigs to diversify her income sources.
Eliza’s husband, Daniel Sikaponda, emphasised the significance of embracing mindset change to become economically independent.
“Working together with my family has improved our family’s status. Previously, I handled all productive activities alone, which made it difficult to provide for everything. Now we bought a motorcycle,” he said.
Besides pigs, the family raises goats and constructed five shops, each rented out at K30 000 per month.
Another community member, July Sibale of Ntonda III Village, said they ventured into agriculture with a clear purpose to earn income.
“As a result, I opened a shop, bought a bicycle, eight pigs, four cows and 20 chickens. I also acquired a sewing machine and built a house,” he said.
World Vision Malawi Chitipa programmes manager Hendrix Kalanje said the empowered world view initiative is designed to help families recognise and utilise resources they already have in their communities.
He said: “The initiative focuses on transforming mindsets and encouraging families to work together towards a shared vision.
“We are pleased to see households moving from dependency to self-reliance through improved planning, productive investments and better use of available opportunities.”
