Thousands of people living around Liwonde are benefitting from education, enterprise initiatives and healthcare; income-generating activities contribute to the livelihoods of more people each year.
This relatively small, yet richly biodiverse, national park has become a benchmark of what is possible when there is a focus on restoration supported by long-term partnerships.
Community Engagement
Positive community engagement is essential in establishing a constituency for conservation amongst communities. When people see and feel the benefits of effective park management and protecting biodiversity, they develop a sense of pride and custodianship for their natural heritage. In Liwonde, this positive engagement is ongoing and the building of strong relationships with the community is a priority for our teams.
Grievance boxes in Traditional Authorities (TAs) around the park form part of efforts to keep communication channels open between park management teams and communities.
Community meetings, including those on enterprise development, take place on a regular basis, with over 23,000 people attending annually.
Education and Environmental Awareness
There is a strong focus on education at Liwonde, from helping to support 94 schools and 100 students with scholarships to bringing the schoolchildren to visit the park. The target set for 2023 for these environmental education visits was exceeded by 62% with 4,865 children and 983 adult visitors.
Reading programmes for hundreds of learners are helping to build literacy in communities. The Happy Readers programme has been rolled out to 20 schools in total, showing extremely good results. A “Reading around the Reserve” programme has also been implemented in conjunction with Book Aid International, where over 22,000 books and other materials have been distributed.
Sustainable Enterprise Development
Two fishponds have been constructed for communities as part of a fish farming project, benefitting 40 farmers and their families. This helps in diversifying livelihoods and in encouraging communities to adopt alternative sources of protein. Start-up assistance included training and the initial provision of fingerlings and fish feed.
Beekeeping offers opportunities for local entrepreneurship as well as providing an alternative source of income for surrounding communities. Honey with Heart signed contracts to supply several supermarket chains in Malawi, greatly helping to reduce a bottleneck that the park experienced in reselling honey bought from the beekeepers.
A sustainable resource use programme in Mangochi Forest Reserve helps communities monitor and regulate harvesting of dead and fallen trees for firewood, as well as other natural resources in the reserve. Several tree nurseries have been established to propagate trees to reduce pressure on natural vegetation.
Despite a cyclone in 2023, the Spicy Farmers project managed to harvest over two tonnes of chillies by the end of the year. In partnership with Nando’s, many farmers have started growing the brand’s proprietary cultivar of chilli and this is expected to bring in good yields. The project provides the added benefit of the 'chilli elephant barrier' which has drastically reduced elephant breakouts and crop destruction.
Overall, more than 6,000 people are involved in harvesting natural resources, while 136 community members are benefitting from an irrigation scheme project.