Building resilience against floods

Chiwondo Village lies near Chimbamila River in the area of Traditional Authority N’gabu in Chikwawa District.

Year after year, the river floods and  wreaks havoc on the village, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. Homes, toilets, precious livestock, and bountiful crops have all been swallowed by the merciless waters, leaving the villagers in a constant battle for survival. Children are the most affected.

In 2016 the communities teamed up on a tree planting exercise to mitigate the effects of floods. They established a forest along the river. However, they lacked knowledge and skills on forestry management. About 50 percent of the seedlings they planted died due to diseases and other problems. Some of the members started to give up on the initiative.

However, in 2017, World Vision made a difference. The organization trained the communities in forestry management. The training tackled types of forests, preparation of seed beds, sowing, spacing, insects and disease control and other topics. The training was aligned to the communities’ interests in dealing with climate change, need for forest products such as firewood, and economic benefits.  World Vision also provided seeds and tree growing tubes.

This engagement proved to be a milestone in rebuilding livelihood and promoting food security.

“We come from a background where floods cause havoc. When we started to plant trees as solution, we had a knowledge gap. However, when World Vision came in, things started going on well,” says chairperson for Chiwondo forest Mixton.

He says following the World Vision’s intervention, Chiwondo has a population of over 24 000 trees with a growth rate of over 95 percent. The village also has an orchard with a total of 190 trees of oranges, tangerines, lemons and other fruit trees.

Mixton says over the years, the forest has helped to avert the effects that were caused by floods, such as soil erosion, washing away of crops, houses, and toilets.

In 2022 Tropical Storm Ana and Cyclone Gombe claimed lives and destroyed property in Malawi. Chikwawa a s a flood prone District also suffered the effect. 42 households in Mayiteni Village which was closer to Chiwondo and was involved in tree planting exercise was washed away.

However, Mixton says the effects Tropical Storm Ana and Cyclone Gombe left behind were minimized by the forests that have now spread in the area. According to his estimate, the forests had saved many villages in the area from damage by 70 percent.

He says if it wasn’t for the afforestation program at least three more villages including Chindoko and Manyowa were at the risk of getting washed away.

Through World Vision’s Disaster Management Unit (DMU), 2081 households from 59 villages in the community are engaged in afforestation program and have managed to plant over 72 000 trees on 21 hectares piece of land.