Yamba Malawi

Yamba Malawi aims to build lasting change in Malawi's most at-risk communities by helping grow locally owned and operated businesses that can sustain long term success and reinvest in education and infrastructure in their communities to ensure brighter futures for their children.

To target Malawi's most vulnerable children, Yamba Malawi works closely with local leaders to identify households and communities who are struggling to provide their children the opportunities and care they deserve. With support from these leaders and expertise from our Malawian staff, Yamba Malawi analyzes key indicators around financial stability, food security, access to education and healthcare, quality of housing, and more. Such a multifaceted approach ensures our team can fully consider the challenges facing Malawi's most vulnerable children, which then helps us to achieve the greatest impact. Yamba Malawi's programs are specifically designed to address the challenges facing these vulnerable children in a way that is both scaleable as well as appropriate for populations that are often difficult to reach. For example, while some households are well-positioned to participate in our farming program, an elderly or infirm caregiver may be better suited for a less physical business intervention such as our honey program. Alternatively, in our rural communities, there are also particularly vulnerable groups like child-headed households who need support from community-based programs, as their age and vulnerability make traditional market interventions impossible. In each component of our programs, our dedicated team carefully considers how to best impact children's short- and long-term well-being while empowering communities to break the cycle of poverty and create brighter futures for the next generation.

Our headquarters in Malawi is staffed entirely by Malawians all of whom have a deep understanding of how to build relationships with our community-based partners and create lasting change. Our staff is experienced in running development programs with a powerful impact. They also have strong financial expertise and coaching abilities. Yamba Malawi has a budget of approximately $1M annually.

Yamba Malawi works with technical experts for trainings related to specific types of businesses and the International Labor Organization for training on business management. We are currently formalizing our own training tools as well.

Yamba Malawi's five community businesses and 200 household businesses give communities and households the resources and tools they need to earn sustainable incomes - these businesses have generated $500,000 in revenue since program launch and a subsequent $100,000 in direct investments in programs for children. Our education interventions include support for preschool, primary students, secondary students, and teachers - we've enrolled 23,544 children in preschools and awarded 150 secondary school scholarships. In the coming years, we will scale our programs significantly, including the exploration of working in new communities, the diversification of our business portfolio, and the exploration of value chain profits through aggregation and processing. We will also pursue additional relationships with NGO, government, and private sector partners to strengthen all aspects of our programs. Our goals are to increase the number of children enrolled in feeding programs by 1,500, double the number of students receiving school scholarships, enroll 210 new households (~700 children) in our program, expand to at least 250 honey businesses and 600 groundnut/soya businesses, and launch two new community businesses.