MFA and UFF Finland visit Dowa women’s Farmers club & DAPP Dowa TTC
On 9th December, DAPP Malawi hosted and organized a field visit to Dowa Women’s farmers club project and DAPP Dowa Teachers Training College (TTC) with representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Finland (MFA) and UFF Finland.
The field visit comprised of visiting two farmer’s club’s projects, a farming cooperative, therapy center for young children constructed by the Dowa Women’s farming club project to appreciate the progress made post implementation phase and to appreciate the work being done at DAPPP Dowa TTC and how communities are conserving the environment through the community forest.
The Dowa women’s farmers club project started its implementation in 2012 in conjunction with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security and support from UFF Finland, a nonprofit, non-governmental humanitarian organization with the aim of reducing poverty and increasing equality amongst female farmers in Dowa district which phased out in 2017.
Through the project, farming instructors provided trainings to farmers on issues of economic empowerment, improved crop and animal production, income generating activities, climate change mitigation measures, improved health, sanitation & hygiene, nutrition, gender awareness and adult literacy as well as disability mainstreaming.
UFF and MFA Finland have also contributed to the construction of DAPP Dowa Teachers Training College which not only trains youths to become teachers for rural government primary schools but also offers free tailoring courses, remedial lessons for community members and promotes children’s rights through girls clubs established in surrounding primary schools.
Hannele Hupanen, a representative from Ministry of Foreign Affairs Finland appreciated the work DAPP is implementing “It is good to see that DAPP is doing a lot through projects such as Farmers club and the Education sector as well as mobilizing the community to conserve the environment. The Government of Finland considered disability inclusivity as a very important component in its development goals. It has been great to also see that DAPP Malawi sees the importance of including people with disabilities in their projects” she said.
UFF Finland and MFA Finland have been supporting DAPP Malawi in various developmental projects including the construction of DAPP Dowa teachers training colleges, Dowa Women’s Farmers club and social projects such as the Teachers network, which focused on the networking of teachers by allowing them to come together to share skills and knowledge to become better teachers. DAPP Malawi thanks UFF and MFA Finland for their continuous support.
