Education Malawi Project #18788

Nurture and Inspire Youth Leaders in Malawi

by Art & Global Health Center Africa

Project Report | Oct 6, 2017
The Dreaming Goes On!

By Lekodi Magombo | Students With Dreams Programme Officer

Chancellor College Dreamers at Orientation

The new cohort of dreamers have all begun and there are already many stories to tell from the few months of their journey. This report follows up on the continuing projects from the colleges starting earlier this year, the new projects from the Chancellor College dreamers and the exciting alumni network conferences.

In June dreamers from Malawi College of Health Science and Domasi College Of Education began running their projects soon after orientation. They are making great progress reaching out and helping their communities. Take these examples:

Green Dance (MALAWI COLLEGE OF HEALTH SCIENCE): This is a project with the goal of taking a holistic approach to empowering youth through agriculture. Green Dance supports youth to grow crops that they can sell to support themselves, and also uses some of the money to buy materials to teach traditional culture to secondary school students. Having identified young people from the community who are empowered to run and manage their farm, they have acquired a plot of land and planted their first crops. Before long their participants will begin to experience the benefits of the first harvest.

GRIP: (MALAWI COLLEGE OF HEALTH SCIENCE): This project teaches girls in rural communities a range of skills to empower them and allow them to support themselves. Their first classes have taught these girls baking skills and report some girls are already using these skills to generate income. The next scheduled classes are on sewing and tailoring skills.

EDOMA (DOMASI COLLEGE OF EDUCATION): This project educates young students in surrounding communities about the importance of education and helps those who have dropped out to return to study. They have made agreements with the schools they'll be working with and are beginning to mentor students who have dropped out to help them to return.

In July, Chancellor College finally opened and more new dreamers were recruited. Four new projects joined the programme; Titus, Thandizo Aid, Tisinte and Pamtunzi. We are so excited to see how they get along considering the different issues they're tackling. For example, Thandizo Aid is our first Students With Dreams project working on mental health. It aims to help students suffering from depression to create safe spaces, while also raising awareness in the wider community on the issue. At the beginning of September we had a wonderful orientation that helped get this exciting Chancellor College chapter started for this year.

To top all this off we had two great alumni conferences. Alumni from Students with Dreams came together in workshops in Blantyre and Lilongwe, to collaboratively strategise on working together as alumni; defining how the alumni network can be developed and sustained. A galaxy of ideas was created, showcasing the ideas generated in a creative visual way, alongside a plan of action for the future of the network. The conference was well received and even featured in Malawi's most prestigious daily newspaper The Nation as well as the website of national broadcaster Capital. We're excited to see where our alumni go from here, and believe this to be a great development for the future of Students With Dreams.

As I write this, we are gearing up for the next training, where for the first time this year we shall be bringing all the three colleges together for a creative and collaborative exchange, helping them continue to develop as individuals and as teams.

GRIP working with a group of girls

Galaxy of ideas at the Lilongwe alumni conference

Learning through games at Chanco SWD Orientation

Links:

Blantyre Alumni conference featured on Capital FM website

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Jul 10, 2017
A Big Warm Welcome to our 2017 Dreamers!

By Lekodi Magombo | Programme Officer

Ice breakers at Orientation

This past April, we launched our first ever Dream Machines at Malawi College of Health Science (MCHS) and Domasi College of Education (DCE). Inspired by design thinking, Dream Machines used image theatre, role-play, and word games to help applicants generate and iterate ideas for tackling the challenges they identified in their communities. Through this process, we welcomed 8 unique projects: Art of War, Paint the Nation, Break of Dawn, Arise and Shine, EDOMA, Green Dance, Girl Rise to Potential, and the Cervical Cancer Free Campaign. In the months to come, we’ll be sharing more about each project, but we’d like to start by highlighting two:

Cervical Cancer Free Campaign: In Malawi, cervical cancer is an under recognised threat to women’s health. Tiyamike, Hassan and Chifundo launched this project to raise awareness about the disease and connect women to free screenings and other existing services.

Art of War: Adorah, Chimwemwe and Allan have set out to combat the stigma that exists between adolescents and parents in talking about safe sex and condom use. They plan to make a series of short videos featuring DCE students that will highlight the dangers of unsafe sex and the need for open dialogue on sexual health in families, leveraging social media to get the word out.

In May, AGHCA held a training session for four new Mentors: Abel, Salome, Michael and Mercy, all exemplary 2016 Dreamers from DCE and MCHS. Training emphasised the difference between leading one’s own project and having the self-restraint to step back and empower others to lead, including sessions on facilitation techniques and role-playing potential challenges. Over the coming year, our Mentors are excited to share their knowledge and experience, while sharpening their own leadership and management skills.

The 2017 Dreamers’ calendar started with a bang – or rather the warm crackle of a campfire. All our Dreamers participated in an intensive two-day Orientation held in beautiful Malosa forest in Zomba. Orientation equips Dreamers with the knowledge and skills they need to successfully complete their projects. AGHCA staff led activity-filled sessions on topics ranging from financial and time management to communications, monitoring and evaluation and community research. In the evening, Dreamers danced, sang and played games around a bonfire, building friendships with like-minded students. At the end, teams used everything from drawing to drama to present their projects to one another.

Finally, we welcomed our brand new programme intern Bongani, who has been outstanding in helping us keep the dream alive - we are so happy to have her.

As our Dreamers from DCE and MCHS launch their project activities, we look forward to seeing their progress in realizing their dreams. In the meanwhile, we are busy laying the groundwork for hosting a Dream Machine and launching the application process at Chancellor College – as soon as the strike is resolved and the college reopens!

Taking notes at Orientation

Mapping Malawi at a Dream Machine

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Apr 7, 2017
Welcoming our new PO - and the Countess of Wessex!

By Viktorya Vilk | Global Health Corps Fellow

Students at the Festival of Ideas

This quarter has been full of celebrations and special occasions for Students with Dreams (SWD)!

In January, the AGHCA collaborated with Lake of Stars and the British Council to host sessions at a Festival of Ideas engaging youth in discussions around civil society and development. We facilitated World Cafe and fishbowl discussions with over 200 secondary school students to brainstorm the role Malawi’s youth could play in shaping the country’s future. The six strongest ideas were presented on the main stage to the full festival audience of 1,000 attendees. Later in the day, SWD alumni Akulu Lipenga and Mcpherson Ndalama ran an arts workshop in which students could 'Create a Malawian Superhero' and develop a comic strip showcasing the character. Finally, as part of Lilongwe shorts, we screened Umunthu, a documentary made by SWD alum Mwizalero Nyirenda exploring opposing views on LGBTI rights in Malawi.

This January we also welcomed our new SWD Programme Officer, Lekodi Magombo, who recently graduated with a degree in Political Science from the University of Malawi Chancellor College. As a 2015 Dreamer, Lekodi spearheaded the project LoudInk, which provides a platform for secondary school students to find their voices and tackle inequity through creative writing. After serving as a passionate, organized and highly valued Mentor for our 2016 Dreamers, Lekodi joined the AGHCA team. A creative go-getter, he enjoys hiking, reading, learning new tech and is on the path to releasing his first novel. We’re thrilled to have him!

It wasn’t long before Lekodi was welcoming members of the British royal family. Lekodi co-founded LoudInk with Madalo Banda, who was presented with a Queen's Young Leaders Award by Her Majesty the Queen at Buckingham Palace last year. This March, the Countess of Wessex traveled to Malawi to see LoudInk in action. Working with secondary students at Cherub School in Lilongwe, Lekodi and Madalo facilitated a discussion about career dreams, ran a workshop on creative writing, and invited two students to recite their stories. At a reception in the residence of the British High Commissioner, Madalo gave an inspiring speech about the origins of the project and the role of youth in Malawi.

As students return from end of year break, the AGHCA is gearing up for SWD 2017. In recruiting this year’s Dreamers, we’ve decided to try something new. Instead of running info sessions presenting the programme, we’re launching Dream Machines. Using the participatory, arts-based approaches for which the AGHCA is known, Dream Machines are interactive and collaborative brainstorming extravaganzas. Inspired by design thinking, students will be using image theatre, role-play, and word games to generate and iterate ideas for tackling challenges they’ve identified in their communities. Of course, we’ll still tell them all about SWD and hand out applications, but they’ll be able to draw on the feedback of their peers as they flesh out their proposals. We can’t wait to share what they come up with…

Create a Malawian Superhero at Festival of Ideas

Our new Programme Officer, Lekodi Magombo

Welcoming the Countess of Wessex

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