We bear witness to the good news
World Vision is not a new name to many Malawians. The organisation is involved in a wide range of projects that mitigate people’s suffering. In this interview with James Chimpweya, World Vision regional cluster manager for the South Ben Chikaipa explains the organisation’s background and what it does in Malawi.
What is World Vision?
World Vision is the international partnership of Christian humanitarian organisations whose mission is to follow our Lord Jesus Christ in working with the poor and oppressed to promote human transformation, seek justice and bear witness to the good news of the Kingdom of God. It is dedicated to helping children, women, families and their communities reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice.
Who formed World Vision, when and why?
World Vision was founded by a journalist Bob Pierce in 1947 during one of his core duties in South Asia covering war. As a war correspondent, he saw how children were suffering and women oppressed. He then took photos of children orphaned by war. In 1950, he formed World Vision International and handled funds to support work with vulnerable children. He then gathered religious leaders and explained to them what he saw during the war and also provided them with the photos he took. He was not a missionary but a war correspondent but had the passion for the orphans and the oppressed groups.
When did the organisation come to Malawi?
World Vision started working in Malawi in 1981 by implementing community infrastructure projects such as building of schools and water systems, providing medical services and supporting income generating activities. By 1992, World Vision Malawi was well established in leading community-based development programmes. As it was growing, it was focusing on three transformational development, policy and advocacy and humanitarian emergency affairs.
What are your areas of operation?
Our operational areas are known as Area Development Programs (ADP) and we are working in 26 of the 28 districts of the country and operate in 44 ADPs. We are implementing various developmental projects with different sponsors from various foreign countries.
What are some of the projects you undertake in Malawi?
We have projects in education where we build schools, provide desks, learning and teaching materials as one way of collaborating with government in the promotion of primary education standards in the country. We also have food security programmes where some farmers are being trained in new farming methods for them to realise bumper harvests and these are called Lead Farmers. Through agriculture, we have the Pass-On-Programme where farmers are given animals like goats, pigs as well as cattle so that they give others after the animals give birth.
We also have milk bulking groups and one of them is in Mikolongwe known as Chisomo Bulking Group which is to be turned into a cooperative because of its success stories. We also have HIV and Aids response where we have home-based care support groups who encourage communities to go for HIV testing and counselling. Apart from these, we also have water and sanitation projects where we drill shallow wells and boreholes so that people get clean and safe water.
