Northern Region

Communities: 30 communities and 210 villages
Population: 46,390
Sponsored children: 7,500

Mzuzu is in the northern part of Mzimba district , some 400 kilometres north of the capital, Lilongwe. Plan has been working in the area since 1997. The main economic activity is subsistence agriculture, and while maize is the main food crop, tobacco is the major cash crop grown by farmers. The two main ethnic groups in the area are Ngoni and Tumbuka.

Programme highlights

Maternal and child health

Plan Malawi promotes the health of children and women of child bearing age by focusing on child survival, maternal and newborn health, school health promotion and water and sanitation. We also provide potable water through the drilling of boreholes and encourage households to achieve 100% open defecation-free villages. 

Mitigating the impact of HIV and AIDS

Plan trains caregivers in emotional support and provides support groups for people living with HIV and AIDS. We have supported the training of youths in life skills and promote activities to change sexual behaviour in the communities.

With the district assembly, we also support community-based organisations that provide home based care and orphan care support.

Food security and livelihoods

To ensure food security and sustainable livelihoods Plan supports farmers by providing farming implements to cultivate larger areas. We promote the production of sorghum, pigeon peas and peal millet, cassava and sweet potato as a key activity to supplement maize, which requires more rainfall and huge amounts of fertiliser. 

Plan also encourages irrigation by stream diversion, use of motorised pumps, treadle pumps, drip kits and watering cans to help farming in dry seasons. We support girls by establishing maize mills within walking distances and run a microfinance programme to enable communities to manage their own savings and loan activities.

Quality education support

Plan constructs classrooms, teachers’ houses, pit latrines and early childhood development centres, furnishes schools with desks and provides learning materials to encourage students to remain in school. We provide teacher training and also train pupils in school hand washing, hygiene and sanitation.

Scholarships are awarded to high performing students in various secondary schools and school linking projects have been set up with schools in the United Kingdom.

Child rights, gender and community empowerment

Plan is working with communities to promote child rights. Our Learn Without Fear campaign to end violence in schools is being run in all schools and children are able to advocate for key changes they would like to see on issues that impact negatively on their lives.

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