Project Description
Malawi
Learning to prioritise rural women’s knowing
The Malawi team are working in the Lake Chilwa basin where climate change adaptation is a critical issue as the lake becomes drier. This involves prioritising rural women’s knowledge of how to adapt to ever-more frequent drying up of the lake and loss of regular sources of livelihood. The nexus issues are deforestation, water and fisheries resources management, biodiversity, drought and food security. Methods include historical mapping of women’s social learning, building past, present and futures scenarios, livelihoods analysis, and resilience building using expansive learning approaches.
Team members
Programme leader:
Professor Sosten Chiotha is Director of Leadership for Environment and Development: Southern and Eastern Africa. Professor Sosten Chiotha holds a PhD in Environmental Sciences obtained from the University of Maryland, USA in 1990. He has served as a University of Malawi lecturer and professor for over 25 years. He has held a number research leadership positions including Chairman of the National Commission for Science and Technology (2012 to date), Principal Investigator for Attaining Sustainable Services from Ecosystems through Trade-Off Scenarios (ASSETs) (2012 to date). He is a specialist in climate change adaptation and mitigation having managed a number of projects including the Lake Chilwa Basin Climate Change Adaptation Programme (2010-2014) and the Building Capacity for Climate Change Adaptation in West and Southern Africa (2008-2011).
Lead researcher:
Mr. Gibson Mphepo, lead researcher on the programme has a Master of Science in Environmental Biology. He is currently Head of Programmes at Leadership for Environment and Development (LEAD) Southern and Eastern Africa. Gibson will be completing his PhD using the Malawi T-learning case study as the core focus of the PhD study.
Research assistants:
Mrs Sophie Mahonya holds a Bachelor of Science Agriculture. She will be assisting with data collection for the Malawi T-learning case study.
Miss Darlen Martha Dzimwe holds a Bachelor of Education in Humanities and will also support the programme as research assistant.
Local transformative knowledge network partners
Leadership for Environment and Development (LEAD) Southern and Eastern Africa (SEA): LEAD SEA is a node of LEAD International, who, for twenty years, has been engaged in actively supporting leadership for environment and development, world wide. Lead enables aspiring and established leaders to explore, with fresh eyes, the implications of sustainability for their organisations and their leadership capacity for the future. They support individuals and organisations to realise their potential to be catalysts for change and to thrive in a future that may seem impossible by today’s rules.
University of Malawi: The University of Malawi hosts the LEAD SEA programme which is led by Professor Sosten Chiotha.
Mchinga District Council (one of the 3 basin districts in Lake Chilwa), district executive committee (DEC), traditional leadership and community members, including womens’ groups.
Project updates
Malawi TKN update: Community meetings with maize (learning possibilities)
Malawi case is about informal learning among rural women affected by extremes of drought and dry spells. We target maize women farmers - maize being the staple crop and therefore would provide more learning possibilities. [...]
