Achieving sustainable economic growth and food security is inextricably linked to climate change. Malawi faces continued challenges of deforestation, constrained water resources, declining fisheries, limited institutional capacity to manage natural resources and farming practices that lead to soil erosion and reduced fertility, among others.( US AID)
Plastic Cleanup
Did you know every pair of Love Specs sold cleans up 2.5KG of ocean-bound plastic?
Love specs is partnered with Empower for global impact!
Empower is creating a solution for the plastic waste problem by giving plastic value. They are cleaning up the world while fighting poverty by providing a wage to those in need. Giving plastic value kick-starts its journey in a transparent and traceable route from waste to a new product. The goal is to promote disruptive solutions which can contribute to shaping a fully circular economy.
Reduce plastic pollution and poverty with plastic credits and be part of the change! For every pair of Love specs sold, Empower will clean up 2.5 kg of plastic waste from nature, beaches and rivers in Africa and Asia, and prevent it ending up in the oceans – that is the real impact!
Together we are more
Water
In Malawi, 9.9 million people do not use basic sanitation and 5.6 million people who do not have access to safe water sources. Poor sanitation, unsafe water, and unhygienic practices contribute to 3,000 under-five child deaths every year. (Unicef WASH report 2018)
Clean water does more to increase human lifespan than any kind of drug or surgery.
We aim to give access to clean water and have installed two boreholes, giving access to over 6000 people.
- We have funded two bore holes
Solar Power
Around 88% of Malawi’s population live without access to power which stumps learning, business and communications. It gets dark at 6pm so is only possible to study by candlelight which is expensive and can be dangerous. (World Bank).
We aim to provide stable sustainable power, helping children and adults study and have access to information at night. To date, we have installed solar power at at Africa Visions vocational center, and Tilinanu Orphanage.
- Solar Power installed at Africa Visions Sams Village vocational center, and Tilinanu Orphange
Trees
The forest cover of the country reduced from 47% in 1975 to 36% in 2005. This is the highest deforestation rate in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, representing a net loss of some 30,000 to 40,000 hectares per year.
£1000 was provided to train farmers and plant seedlings which enabled the planting of 5000 trees! This money also paid for the training of the staff at four different Tree Nurseries that we support in 4 different centres. This training was carried out by Kondwani and Green from the Africa Vision Malawi (AVM) team.
The planting of these 5000 trees took place over three days; Monday 10th, Tuesday 11th and Wednesday 12th January 2022. They will be shared between; 7 schools, 2 clinics and 2 rural communities. The community trees will go directly into the villages and be monitored by the community, local-based Coordinators and the AVM team.
The schools receiving seedings are: Chibwata Primary – 500 seedlings, Mundundu – 250 seedlings, Chimbal – 500 seedlings, M’khalapadzuwa – 500 seedlings, Songwe – 250 seedlings, Bowa – 250 seedlings, Chitukula and CDSS – 700 seedlings.
The M’bang’ombe Clinic and Ngoni received 250 seedlings each, and communities Songwe – M’lumbwira Centre and Chalasa – Chalasa Centre 700 each.
The benefits of these trees for each of the centres, communities and schools are to provide better food, shade and to improve soil quality in rural areas.
- Over 1000 trees planted in 2019