MALAWI
Dzaleka camp
people assisted
presence in the country
We work with a refugee association called YOCODESOP. YOCODESOP works mainly with children and women in the camp. We intervene in nine schools to improve their access to sanitary facilities and, in some cases, their waiting time for water collection. In addition, we are organizing awareness-raising campaigns for students. We are also financing the construction and launch of a small local soap factory, which will be self-managed at the end of the project. The aim is to increase the soap quantity in the camp by selling soaps at a lower cost. In the meantime, the soap factory will supply the nine schools with soap free of charge and train young women during the project duration. In this way, we wish to strengthen the skills of these young women, who are numerous in the camp and live in extreme poverty. Finally, we are working with Welthungerhilfe to build YOCODESOP’s capacities by offering them targeted training courses.
Malawi, better known as Africa’s Warm Heart, is a landlocked South-eastern African country that borders Tanzania, Zambia, and Mozambique. Malawi currently hosts approximately 60,000 refugees, and most of them are living in Dzaleka Camp, a former prison based 50km north of Lilongwe. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) established the camp in 1994 in response to an influx of forcibly displaced people fleeing genocide, violence, and wars in Burundi, Rwanda, and D.R. Congo. Malawi’s policies restrict refugees’ movements, and employment rights, meaning they have very few opportunities to earn a living outside the camp. Most refugees, therefore, depend on food aid and other external support for survival.
