Education
PROJECTS

Founders Alice and Nina started their work in Malawi helping Tilinanu Orphanage for girls in 2009, 10 years on in 2019 following government guidelines Tilinanu closed it doors, the vulnerable girls housed there were reintegrated into communities and being helped in through school and local boarding schools where homes were not of a living standard. 32 vulnerable girls are now funded through school, 14 in primary, 10 in secondary, 4 awaiting exam results, three girls at college, and one young lady has now graduated university.

We help to support the children’s school fees, school books, examination fees, toiletries, accommodation and food. We believe that education is the key to change. LSU provides all the admin and fundraising for Tilinanu Orphanage and hopes to support these girls to reach their full potential.

https://lovetilinanu.org.uk

Only 35 percent of children in Malawi complete primary school. Primary school in Malawi was made free in 1994. This policy boosted primary school enrolment from 1.6 million children to three million children. However, with such an influx in students, the educational quality has decreased due to weak infrastructure, poor hygiene and low teaching quality.

The first 1,000 days of life – the time spanning roughly between conception and 2 years – is a unique period of opportunity when the foundations of optimum health, growth, and neurodevelopment are established and influence outcomes in education and economic potential. It is a critical period for brain development and emotional health and wellbeing. Sadly, too frequently in developing countries, poverty and malnutrition, weaken the foundations laid down in the first 1001 days, leading to earlier mortality and significant morbidities such as poor health, and substantial loss of neuro-developmental potential. Famillies are trapped in a cycle of stress, fear and poverty which repeats with every generation. What we do to our children, we do to ourselves.

At least 200 million children living in developing countries fail to meet their developmental potential . (Unicef)

The mother and infant health initiative aims to provide and act as a guiding program for a healthy life for mothers and their babies with mother and baby groups learning infant massage, safe motherhood education, kangaroo mother care, first aid, hand hygiene and infant mental health.

This program is delivered through community groups and training partner organisations. The program represents the importance in investing in early childhood development and the first 1000 days of life from conception to two years old. It follows the World Health Organisation and Unicef’s Nurturing Care Framework as launched at the World Health Assembly in 2018. It also works towards goal three in the Sustainable Development Goals launched by the World Health Organisation.

83% of first-grade students are unable to read a single syllable, and 92% of these students fail to read a single word. (Global reading network)

Such statistics are the result of children being denied the chance to learn under normal conditions. 55.2 % of women over the age of 15 in Malawi are illiterate struggling to help their children reach their full developmental potential. (Unesco)

We aim to educate children aged 2-5 years old in a preschool environment. We help the children gain a basic education and improve concentration before they reach primary level. This enables standard one, (a child’s first year at school) not to be their first time in a school setting, preventing learning delays and knock-on effects through life.

LSU with Blossom & Berry and Squire Patton Boggs built a preschool nursery block in 2018, with a new centre at Mteza underway to complete in 2021.

We fund 4 nursery teachers over 3 centers, and a full-time education manager, the operational costs and materials for over 160 children daily.

As well as funding and qualified preschool teachers to deliver training for these teachers. Providing funding, facilitating Rainbow Play qualified trainers, to deliver learning with limited resources training to 83 teachers reaching 3000 children, working with Mphastso, butterfly space and Ripple Africa in October 2020.

Love Specs we have been able to fund £2835 GBP to build a nursery for 50 children with Mphatso children’s foundation Malawi. Starting to be built in January 2022

This centre will help educate children aged 2-5 years old in a preschool environment. It will help the children gain a basic education and improve concentration before they reach primary level. In addition Mphasto feed the children a bowl of nutritional porridge a day helping fight malnutrition in these vulnerable children.

The below photo shows the site with work on the build starting in January 2022.

Working with Stepping Stones Malawi,
we help support 5 children that they
care for, and the head teachers’ salary.

37% of under 5’s suffer stunted growth. Stunted growth hinders brain development and immunity. 26% of children are engaged in child labour, varying from season to season. Poor nutrition causes nearly half (45 percent) of deaths in children under five – 3.1 million children each year.

66 million primary school-age children attend classes hungry across the developing world, with 23 million in Africa alone.

Through the school feeding program, we aim to reduce the number of children that are engaged in child labour, stabilize school attendance, and ensure children are eat at least one meal a day. Children work in the fields in return for food, in some cases, children eat 1 meal in 3 days during hungry season. Attendance would drop from approx 400 to 60, as children would be forced to work in fields to help feed their family, being paid for a days labour with a bowl of maize. Their education suffers, as well as nutrition and health.

Love Support Unite has helped the community to secure 10 acres of farm land, trained its teachers in permaculture and provided the first year of seeds and farm inputs. The school fed an average of 400 meals per day. That’s 65,060 meals to October 2020. After this date and three years of help managing the farm the school committee now manages the school farm.

The school was able to feed the children from its own land, the children learnt new farming techniques in the outdoor classroom. The attendance is stable as children attend school to receive food, nutrition, and education. We have worked  alongside ‘Malawi Schools Permaculture Club’ to provide teacher training and syllabus to get children learning outside. We funded training for local community members, at the Kusamala institute of permaculture. With huge thanks to Beating Heart.

Love Support Unite now funds a permaculture specialist at African Visions vocational village ‘Sams Village’ with the aim to offer this program to another school in the future.

With 4.6 million students enrolled in schools throughout Malawi, only eight percent of them complete secondary school. (Borgen project)

Only 14.9 percent of adult females obtain at least a secondary education.

Love Support Unite helps fund 4 girls through secondary school with the Landarani Trust. We also sponsor 1 student through university.

We have a fully funded programme which pays for one full-time Project Manager and 10 Rugby Development Officers (RDOs). The RDO’s are involved in the weekly training sessions at 20 different primary schools in Lilongwe, as well as trainings with junior and senior club teams in their respective areas. The LSU Rugby Project is one of the most successful Rugby development projects in Malawi. Run by Jack Mphande and Dan Hatch.

The primary aim of the project is the promotion of
Rugby as a sport amongst the local school children and teenagers in Lilongwe.

The average school leaving age is 11 years old in Malawi. With less than 1% achieving education after secondary school.

LSU has helped to fund 3 places at the Sams Village tailoring centre

92% of teenagers and adults in Malawi didn’t complete secondary education. Malawi is ranked the weakest for its performance in English reading and second weakest for mathematics against other southern African countries. (Trading economics)

Many families can’t afford secondary school fees, children drop out in order to work and support their families. Girls often enter into early marriages so their care is supported independently by their husband and his family. Leaving the adult population over 20 years old unable to support their children’s learning, read medical advise and run successful businesses.

This year we have been able to fund a full time education manager, 10 adult literacy teachers, running costs of 5 centres with 10 weekly classes giving 598 adults the second chance at education.

We will reduce illiteracy levels among adults ranging in age from 16 to 60 years in the community. Enabling them to support their children’s learning, run businesses, read warnings on medicines and integrate more fully into society for example, being able to fill out bank forms.