Chakana (5thL) displays Malawi’s six groups of food to some members of Chimwemwe Care Group | Lewis Msasa “I nearly lost my child,” recalls Chakana, from Kavala Village in Traditional Authority (TA) Dambe, Mchinji. Her voice is steady with resolve: “Since then, I decided to spend my life ensuring other mothers have the knowledge and support I lacked.” For over five years, Chakana has served as a Nutrition Promoter, “preaching the gospel” of balanced diets across her community. However, her work—and that of her fellow volunteers—is more critical than ever as Malawi grapples with a persistent food insecurity crisis.

The Africa Agenda 2063 calls on nations to deliver inclusive development by radically transforming agriculture to enable the continent to feed itself. Locally, the Malawi 2063 blueprint echoes this, prioritising the health of women and adolescents to halt intergenerational stunting. Despite these high-level visions, malnutrition remains a significant hurdle.

According to the 2024 Demographic and Health Survey, 38 percent of children under-five in Malawi suffer from stunting, a condition of chronic malnutrition that permanently impairs physical growth and cognitive development. Ironically, Mchinji District—located 111 kilometres west of Lilongwe city—is hailed as the “breadbasket” of central Malawi. Yet, Mchinji currently faces a stunting rate of 44 percent, significantly higher than the national average.

This paradox is often driven by a focus on mono-cropping for cash. In many households, nutritious produce is reportedly sold to meet immediate financial needs, leaving families with little more than plain maize porridge. This “sell-all” culture, combined with climate shocks like El Niño, has created a food insecurity crisis in the midst of plenty.

The turning point In 2021, Chakana and her fellow community members formed the Chimwemwe Care Group in Kavala Village to combat these statistics. However, passion alone wasn’t enough; the group nearly collapsed under the weight of limited technical knowledge and a lack of resources. The turning point arrived in January 2023 when a local non-governmental organization, the Circle for Integrated Community Development (Cicod) intervened through the Food Systems for Food Security (FS4FS) project.

Implemented in partnership with Concern Worldwide and supported by Irish Aid, the project focuses on the four pillars of food security: availability, access, utilization, and stability. “Cicod supported us to revive the group when it was on the brink of collapsing,” Chakana explains. “They provided yellow maize seeds, high-nutritive indigenous seeds, and more importantly, the technical training that actually saves lives.” The care group model Today, Chakana and fellow nutrition promoters—including ‘male champions’—oversee a massive web of nutritional surveillance and education across the Traditional Authorities of Dambe, Zulu, and Mlonyeni.

By using existing community structures, the project avoids duplicating efforts and builds directly on local trust—a strategy that aligns with the National Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Policy (NMNP) 2025-2030. Chakana says the activities centre on the “Malawian 6 Food Groups.” “On the 20th of every month, caregivers gather to learn how to incorporate staples, legumes, vegetables, fruits, animal-source foods, and fats into every meal through homestead gardens and cooking demonstrations,” she explains. Cicod’s FS4FS monitoring and evaluation officer Comfort Mvutho explains that the project follows a “Care Group Model.” Nutrition promoters supported by lead mothers conduct door-to-door visits to ensure pregnant women and young children receive routine nutrition screenings.

“We have 18 care groups across Mlonyeni, Zulu, and Dambe, supported by 2 183 lead mothers,” says Mvutho. The results are visible for mothers like Steria Goodson. “My family is healthy now.

I can feed my children a balanced diet using food we grow ourselves. My children are no longer stunted.” The success is bolstered by “Male Champions” like Adam Shawa, who challenges the stigma that nutrition is strictly a woman’s concern. “I encourage my fellow men to support their wives in growing nutritious foods,” Shawa says.

“At the clinics where I volunteer, I see the proof: fewer malnourished children than ever before.” Even traditional leadership has noted a shift in mindset. Group Village Head Kavala observes: “Previously, people in my village used to relate malnutrition to witchcraft. After these interventions, people now realise the real cause: poor diet.” A strategic path to resilience The FS4FS project targets 6 179 households, building a “resilience package” by linking lead farmers,