Region category: Southern Africa

Youth Net and Counselling (YONECO) conducted nine roadshows in Zomba and Machinga districts in Malawi as part of a mass awareness campaign to promote the use of clean and sustainable energy. With support from Hivos Southern Africa, YONECO is implementing a project called: “Stimulating Citizen and Public Engagement in Green and Inclusive Energy for Sustainable Development.” […]

More than 90 per cent of the population in Malawi depends on biomass source of energy, only 10 per cent has access to the national grid power system covered by Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM). This negatively influences several development sectors including health, education and economy, and hugely affects the environment. Renew’N’Able Malawi (RENAMA), a Malawian non-governmental organization, is implementing […]

The Chitipa District Health Office (DHO) in Malawi is excited with the Green Inclusive Energy (GIE) project which Community Energy Malawi (CEM) is implementing in the district. The DHO lamented at the lack of technical backstopping on solar PV and other renewable energy systems installed at health centres in the district.  “We have several partners […]

Community Energy Malawi (CEM) is currently working in a rural and remote area to promote uptake of green and inclusive energy with support from Hivos Southern Africa. The project area is Balaka District, located in the south of Malawi. The district covers an area of 2,193 square kilometre representing 2.4 percent of the total land area […]

Universal health and universal access to energy are both global and Malawi development goals. However, not enough attention is given to their interdependence and their strong relationship. There are grave consequences of energy poverty on health indicators. Hivos Southern Africa’s partner under the Green and Inclusive Eenergy programme, Malawi Health Equity Network (MHEN), trained community groups at […]

At the end of April, Moore Stephens submitted the final version of Malawi’s first Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative report to the Multi-Stakeholder Group. Over the last two months I have shared the top ten insights I gleaned from the report and 10 questions I have after reading the report. In the final column in this series, I explore ten […]

The sound of water rushing in small waterfalls over the jagged rocks is soul soothing, if you care to it listen closely enough. The damwall like structure known as the intake weir constructed to harness water required to power the Chipendeke micro-hydro scheme gives the water a sudden force to rush over the rocks as […]

Thirteen food and lifestyle entrepreneurs from Malawi, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe pitched their business ideas in front of a four-panel jury, potential investors, NGOs and members of the public at Hivos Southern Africa HQ on June 16, 2017. The jury used the following criteria to judge the pitches: strength of the business case, potential […]

At age 15, Tanaka (not her real name) was forced into sex work in order to fend for herself. Now aged 17, Tanaka has been through what can be simply described as hell, something a child like her ought never to experience. She fell pregnant hardly a year after she started engaging in sex work, […]