Diaspora Volunteering Initiative Placement information

(This pages gives a brief outline of the policy. The full document can be downloaded as a pdf document. )

BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON MALAWI

Malawi is among the world's least developed and most densely populated countries. The economy is heavily based on agriculture, with a largely rural population, mostly relying on subsistence farming. The food supply situation is precarious, because the country is prone to natural disasters of both extremes, from drought to heavy rainfalls, putting the country often in constant need of thousands of tonnes of food aid.

The Malawian government depends heavily on foreign aid to meet its development needs. Due to its dependency on donor aid, the government faces a huge challenge in improving the economy, education, health care and environment. Malawi has several programs developed focusing on issues raised above. As such the country's outlook appears to be improving, with improvements in economic growth, education and healthcare. However the biggest drawback has been brain drain. It is reported that there are only 100 doctors and 2,000 nurses for Malawi's 14 million people because many health care workers trained in the country now practice in developed countries, in search of greener pasture.

Malawi has a low life expectancy and high infant mortality. There is a high prevalence of HIV/AIDS, which is a drain on the labour force and government expenditures, and has a significant impact on gross domestic product (GDP). It is reported that 15% of the population is infected with Aids. Malawi has a diverse population of native peoples, Asians and Europeans, with several languages spoken and an array of religious beliefs. Malawi has a culture combining native and colonial aspects.

INTRODUCTION

Brief overview of MIND

Malawian Initiative for National Development (MIND) is a British charity organization based in Scotland. It was founded by Malawians in Aberdeen in summer of 2007 and officially launched as a project on 16th September 2008. Its mission has been to promote Volunteering Initiatives of Diaspora Malawians in the United Kingdom. The initiatives are centred on skills transfer. MIND will facilitate the involvement of those Malawians interested in helping in the socio-economic development of their country of heritage to undertake short term assignments in Malawi on a voluntary basis. The organisation has a formal operational structure headed by an Executive Director and supported by programme managers. The activities of the organisation are overseen by the Board of trustees. MIND will initially operate two programme areas namely health and education, and later on expand to other programmes of need. From the available evidence the majority of the skills base of Diaspora Malawians is in these two areas. There are a number of Malawian nurses, doctors and academics based in the UK. In addition, the two areas are ones most in need of professional expertise in Malawi.

History of the development of MIND's Diaspora programme

In summer 2006 Malawians in Aberdeen (MIA), an association of Malawians in the northeast of Scotland approached VSO to learn about volunteering work. VSO responded by coming over to Aberdeen and made a presentation of their Diaspora volunteering programme. MIA decided then that it wanted to take part in the initiative. The terms of the partnership agreement with VSO required that the initiative be extended to allow all Malawians in the UK willing and able to take part in the volunteering efforts. As a result MIA decided to create a volunteering offshoot that will spearhead the volunteering activities by including all Malawians in the UK. This resulted into the genesis of Malawian Initiative for National Development (MIND). Since then a number of Diaspora related initiatives have taken place. In May 2007 a two-day Planning Workshop was held at Woodbank Hotel in Aberdeen with technical help from two consultants from VSO London Office. The output of that workshop was a detailed Logical Framework (Log frame) which will guide MIND's Programmes for the next 3-5 years. At the start of 2008, members put in place a Governance Structure for MIND that included the appointment of a dedicated team of Executives for six roles. On 17th September 2008, MIND was officially launched by the Malawi High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, His Excellency Dr. Francis Moto. Also in attendance was Rt. Hon. Jack McConnell the Former First Minister of Scotland, who is a major figure championing the awareness of Malawi in Scotland and on the world stage.

You can read the full text as a pdf document.

Last updated 11/11/2011