MALAWI: The Green Schools Project

Ryan’s Well is excited to be co-funding the water and sanitation elements of The Green Schools Project of our partner, Canadian Physicians for Aid and Relief (CPAR).

This project in Malawi will improve access to safe water and sanitation services for over 4,400 students and teachers; it will provide 40 latrine stances, 4 rainwater harvesting tanks, and WASH training to 4 primary schools – leading to clean water and sanitation for generations to come!

• Construction of 4 30KL rainwater harvesting tanks for 4 primary schools
• Construction of 40 latrine stances (4 VIP [Ventilated Improved Pit] latrine blocks with 10-stances for male and female students and teachers)
• WASH training for personnel at 4 primary schools
• PPE (COVID-19 Risk Mitigation)
• Ongoing local reporting, monitoring, and evaluation

• Out of Malawi’s population of 16 million, 1.7 million people don’t have access to safe water, and nearly 10 million don’t maintain adequate sanitation practices.
  • These two problems are responsible for the deaths of more than 1,700 children who perish every year due to preventable diarrheal diseases.
• Water and sanitation-related diseases, such as diarrhea and malaria, remain the leading cause of death among children under age five.
  • This is primarily due to a high proportion of non-functioning water supply facilities, poor access to sanitation, and low adoption rates of positive hygiene practices.
• Only 54% of people living in Malawi’s Kasungu District have access to safe drinking water. 
• 30% of the population in the Mangochi District lives without sanitation facilities, and practises open defecation. 
• Fewer than a quarter of primary schools in Malawi meet the national standard of one latrine per 60 students.
• Only 4% of schools have handwashing facilities.

Malawi is among the smallest countries in Africa, with Lake Malawi taking up about a third of the area. A largely agricultural country with a rapidly increasing population, the clearing of forest for agriculture, coupled with the demand for firewood, has seriously depleted Malawi’s forests. Malawi is also plagued by other challenges, including decades of underdevelopment, governmental corruption, and HIV/AIDS, which claims the lives of tens of thousands every year.

Canadian Physicians for Aid & Relief (CPAR), a fellow-Canadian organization, has been working in Malawi since 1990. Fun Fact: the CPAR team was responsible for the installation of Ryan’s first well back in 1998! CPAR’s work in Malawi began in response to a government invitation to improve the health of community members in the Traditional Authority of Chitukula. Today, CPAR Malawi has established itself as a leader in the areas of water, sanitation, hygiene, primary health care, projects related to HIV and AIDS, and food security. The Green Schools Project encompasses many of those goals – with the added benefit that the rainwater harvesting tanks installed by Ryan’s Well will not only improve hygiene and sanitation, but will aid in the creation and maintenance of school and community gardens – teaching sustainable agriculture and providing nutritious foods to the community.

Like Ryan’s Well Foundation, CPAR works in close partnership with beneficiary communities and local government representatives in all of its programs. CPAR’s head office is in the capital of Lilongwe, and all of the staff are Malawi nationals. With such expertise in the area, Ryan’s Well Foundation has decided to join CPAR in Malawi for this upcoming fiscal year, and are directing funds towards their Green Schools Project.

Every effort is made to designate your funds as requested; however, if the specified project has become fully funded or unforeseen circumstances delay its start, we may allocate your donation to another important project.