Charlotte's Web: It's a long way to Lilongwe...

I've just got back from a really encouraging programme quality visit to Lattitude Global Volunteering's ICS programme in Malawi. Malawi is a long thin country in southeast Africa, bordering Zambia, Tanzania and Mozambique. It's one of the lowest on the Human Development Index (HDI) in Africa, with 85% living in rural areas and an economy reliant mainly on agriculture. With the capital Lilongwe in the south of the country and the communities of Mzuzu and Sangilo located in the north (and no internal flights) it was a long drive after an even longer flight (via Addis Ababa in Ethiopia) but well worth the journey. And I'd forgotten just how BIG the skies in Africa are....

Long roads and big skies

For my first 4 days I was in the town of Mzuzu, which by the way you should look out for on Sainsbury's supermarket shelves in the coffee aisle among the Taste the Difference range (I bought a 1 kg bag direct from the cooperative and can vouch that it's gooooood). But coffee aside, my first two days were spent in meetings with the Lattitude team, made up of a Country Manager (Matt) and 2 Programme Coordinators (Chisomo and Adriano). We firstly reflected on the volunteer learning aspect of the programme in the previous cycle of volunteers and how to prepare for the next cycle, and secondly explored their education project and how they're getting on measuring progress towards the outcomes and ultimate impact they set out to achieve.

Mzuzu coffee - highly recommended!

On the third night I was there, the new team of volunteers arrived from the UK to join their Malawian counterparts in order to attend a two day in-country orientation. As well as observing the sessions led by the Lattitude Malawi staff, I also facilitated a pilot "introduction to volunteer learning" session through the new ICS resources that we produced earlier in the year. After long evenings of proof reading in January, it was fantastic to finally see the resources in the hands of the volunteers themselves and I'm looking forward to hearing more about how they're used through their whole placement.

Volunteers present their small group work back to the whole group at in-country orientation

Facilitating the pilot session on "introduction to volunteer learning"

Volunteers writing personal learning goals into their new ICS resources

After the in-country orientation, I visited the rural community of Sangilo (3 more hours north) where Lattitude's education project is being delivered. It was the first time I've been to such a rural ICS placement and just the kind of placement I'd have wanted to go on myself... if I was still in the 18-25 age bracket. If only. The volunteers live in counterpart pairs (one UK volunteer and one Malawian) and stay with local host families, one pair even living with the local village chief! The community is located on the shores of Lake Malawi and volunteers are unlikely to get in a vehicle (apart from the odd shopping trip to a nearby bigger community) during their whole 10 weeks. So it's an opportunity for them to really integrate with the community (who couldn't be more welcoming) and work alongside each other on their project activities.

Grace and Innocent in their host home...

...and with their host Mum

Visiting host homes in the community (Lake Malawi in background and Tanzania beyond that)

Counterpart pair preparing the evening meal at their host home

Before the long journey home, I also managed to squeeze in a visit to one of the community's pre-schools where ICS volunteers are supporting teachers to develop new resources and encourage varied approaches to learning. It was great to see that even within the space of one cycle, teachers had adopted more participatory teaching methods and were experimenting with visual aids and learning through play, all of which had led to increased concentration levels and regular attendance from the children. It was such a good opportunity to witness the impact ICS volunteers are having first hand. Just wish I could have stayed longer. But year two annual reporting awaits.....