2020 Project Profile

In 2020, the following projects are being implemented by Amref Health Africa in Malawi with a staff compliment of 34 (of which 12 are women).

1. E-learning for Upgrading Midwives Phase II Project: 2016-2022

The project goal is to contribute toward reduction in maternal mortality in Malawi, and improvement of availability of health services for mothers and children in Malawi. The expected outcomes are to make sure that e-learning is introduced as a tool for health care workers’ training strategies in training institutions as part of their professional qualifications. The targeted beneficiaries are nurse midwives, tutors and mentors, and public and private health training institutes. The project is using capacity building of health training institutions to use e-learning to upgrade nurse midwife technicians to registered nurse as its strategy and it is being implemented at Ekwendeni College of Nursing-Mzuzu District (Northern Region) and Malawi College of Health Sciences-Blantyre Campus (Southern Region), and is being funded by Bread for the world (BftW) and GSK.

2. Spotlight Initiative (UNFPA Malawi) January 2020 to December 2020)

The project is an intervention which seeks to contribute to the Spotlight Initiative in Malawi whose goal is to accelerate efforts towards the elimination of Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG), including Sexual and Gender Based Violence and Harmful Practices (SGBV/HP), by addressing their structural roots and linkages to SRHR. Amref Health Africa in Malawi in partnership with Machinga Women’s Forum and in collaboration with Machinga District Council and other relevant district stakeholders intends to achieve this purpose by employing a threefold approach (i) reducing risk by implementing SGBV/HP prevention and mitigation strategies, (ii) promoting resilience by strengthening community and district level systems that prevent and mitigate SGBV/HP (iii) Access to service by supporting service provision to victims of SGBV/HP including victims of Fistula. Under service provision, Amref will bring in its expertise in implementing Sexual Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) strengthening integration of SRHR in service provision at community and district level. Amref will employ a Human Rights based approach where protection from SGBV/HP and access to services including SRH is a RIGHT for all including the marginalized and people living with disabilities.

3. Canada Africa Initiative for Addressing Maternal, Neonatal and Child Mortality (CAIA-MNCM Project: 2016 – 2020)

The goal of the project is to increase the capacity of the health care system in selected districts of Malawi in management of Maternal, Neonatal and Child mortality. It is expected that capacity of facilities for optimum service delivery will be increased, utilisation of health services by mothers and children will also be increased, and occurrence of diseases and malnutrition will be reduced. The target beneficiaries are women and children. The strategy of the project is ensuring capacity building of the maternal and child health services. This project is being implemented in Ntchisi, Mwanza, Neno and Chikwawa districts.

4. Improving high quality, equitable maternal health services in Malawi (The SBM-R (RH) Implementation Research: 2016-2020).

The goal of the project is to generate specific understanding of how to enhance the Standards Based Management Recognition (SBM-R) in Reproductive Health (RH) initiative to improve the quality of maternal health care. It is expected that gaps between the SBM-R (RH) program and ground reality will be identified and quality and equity of care will be enhanced in health centres. The project is being implemented in 7 health facilities (study sites) i.e. 2 central hospitals (QECH and MCH), 2 districts hospitals (Ntchisi and Nkhotakota), 2 health centres (Matawale and Mwazisi) and 1 private hospital (Mulanje Mission).

5. Health Systems Advocacy Partnership Programme: 2017 – 2020

The project seeks to contribute to the improvement of health services delivery in Malawi through four strategic areas which are: Improvement of community health services delivery; improved retention of health care workers; improvement of family planning services; and improvements in health care governance. The project will target the national level and three districts of Mangochi, Ntchisi and Chitipa. The project will run for 4 years from 2017.

 

The goal of the project is to generate specific understanding of how to enhance the Standards Based Management Recognition (SBM-R) in Reproductive Health (RH) initiative to improve the quality of maternal health care. It is expected that gaps between the SBM-R (RH) program and ground reality will be identified and quality and equity of care will be enhanced in health centres. The project is being implemented in 7 health facilities (study sites) i.e. 2 central hospitals (QECH and MCH), 2 districts hospitals (Ntchisi and Nkhotakota), 2 health centres (Matawale and Mwazisi) and 1 private hospital (Mulanje Mission).

6. Ending Child Marriage –Yes I do Alliance: 2016 – 2020

The Yes I Do project aims to contribute to a world in which girls can decide if, when and with whom to marry and have children, and is being implemented in TA Liwonde, Machinga district. This aim will be achieved through the five strategic areas which are: community members and gate keepers have changed attitudes and take action to prevent child marriages and teenage pregnancy; adolescent girls and boys are meaningfully engaged to claim their SRH rights; adolescent girls and boys take informed action on their sexual health; girls have alternatives beyond child marriages and teenage pregnancy through education and economic empowerment and policy makers and duty bearers develop and implement laws and policies on child marriages and teenage pregnancy

7. Stand Up for Adolescents: 2017 – 2021

The goal of the project is to reduce teenage pregnancies and eliminate child marriages in TA Lulanga in Mangochi district. At the end of the project, it is expected that: community members and gate keepers will have changed attitudes, got awareness on effects of teenage pregnancies,  including  taking action to prevent Child Marriages and teenage pregnancies  (Community level); boys and Girls are utilizing sexual and reproductive health services and are able to claim their rights  (community level); boys and girls can access improved sexual and reproductive health services (facility level) and results are influencing the implementation of policy and practice on SRHR at district level

8. Deliver Life Project II Project: 2019 – 2021

This is an extension of the deliver 1 project which ran from 2017 to 2019. The project has been scaled up from just Machinga district to now cover Zomba district as well for the next 3 years. Amref Health Africa is in partnership with WaterAid in this Project funded by the Scottish Government in the 2 South Eastern District of Malawi. The goal of the project is to contribute to reduction of infections and deaths attributed to poor WASH services among maternal mothers, neonates and children. Specifically, the project intends to address inequalities in access to safe and sustainable water sanitation services at household and non-household settings particularly health facilities and their catchment areas. By end of the project period in March 2021, twelve water points (boreholes) and 5 sanitation facilities would have been constructed in 5 targeted communities’ health facilities respectively which improved the access to WASH services in these targeted communities. The project also seeks to increase knowledge among community members on their WASH rights, causes of MNCH related infections and deaths.

9. The Leap Project: 2019 – 2021

The project seeks to contribute to the improvement of the current status of child health in Malawi by building the capacity of guardians (community health workers) to address child health issues at the community level through the LEAP platform in Ntchisi and Mangochi districts. Leap is a Scalable, Integrated Mobile Learning Solution that offers continuous training opportunities, peer collaboration, real time evaluation reports and strengthened supervision. It employs an appropriate mobile learning pedagogy to train from any phone i.e. Basic or Smart enabling the learners to learn at their own pace and with their own mobile devices from wherever they are. The project will Train 5000 Community Health Workers over the life of the project on 3 priority topics (Malaria, Diarrhoea and Pneumonia) that will be based on the IMCI, which an integrated approach to child health that focuses on the well-being of the whole child.

10. The Amref Representative Advisory Group (ARAG) research 2019-2023

Through a grant from Amref Netherlands, Amref in Malawi and is implementing a research project with the aim to gather more insight in the impact of Amref’s work on the lives of women by following them after the project‘s life time. The data generated from ARAG gives insight in the ‘beneficiary values & expectations’ visualized in the model and is therefore input for Evidence Informed Decision Making (EIDM). As such, ARAG data –where needed combined with external evidence and individual/organizational practical expertise- provides input to support Amref Malawi on designing new interventions and proposals, defining long-term/program strategies as its findings, full understanding of the current health situation, needs and priorities as defined by beneficiaries and demonstrating whether and how Amref’s results and programs con­nect to the lives of the women we serve.

11. The BMZ Wash & Nutrition Project

This is a 2.5 years project being implemented in Chikwawa District from October, 2019 to March 2022. The Project Goal is to contribute to reduced mortality and morbidity of WASH related diseases in TA Chapananga and TA Ngabu, Chikwawa District through improved nutrition and health of children and mothers (promoting access to water, sanitation and hygiene services and strengthening health services). The intended outcomes are to have 58,280 mothers and women of childbearing age in the Ngabu and Chapananga TAs drink safe drinking water and apply good hygiene and nutrition practices at the end of the project.

12. Children Thrive- Moyo wa Thanzi (Healthy Life)

This is a one-year project that intends to contribute towards improving the health outcomes of under five children and their families in disaster prone areas of Zomba and Chikwawa districts in Malawi. The project intends to primarily reach out to 6,000 children below the age of five years and 3,000 women.