World Renew Canada and the Word Alive Commission for Relief and Development (WACRAD) are partnering on a Food Assistance project in the Traditional Authority Phweremwe, Phalombe District of Malawi.
Malawi is facing a deteriorating food security landscape, with approximately 4 million people (22% of the population) facing IPC Phase 3 or worse. This situation is primarily driven by below-average agricultural production resulting from prolonged dry spells and erratic rainfall, compounded by prohibitive costs for agricultural inputs. Consequently, rural households depleted food stocks early, forcing reliance on markets where maize prices have surged 176% above the five-year average due to high inflation and currency depreciation. This economic instability has severely limited food access, leading to a 20% rise in Severe Acute Malnutrition cases.
Phweremwe, Phalombe District is among the most severely impacted areas, characterized by high levels of poverty and extensive crop failures due to prolonged dry spells that devastated local maize yields. Households are facing acute food insecurity through March 2026 due to climate-induced drought economic hardship, and soil degradation from past cyclones. Vulnerable families have adopted negative coping strategies, such as skipping meals, selling productive assets, and deforestation, with women and children suffering disproportionate nutritional impacts.
To address these problems, the project will provide three months of cash assistance worth up to $81 CAD per household per month to 1,761 households comprising 8,326 participants in Phweremwe. The transfer value will be scaled down for smaller households based on the number of household members. Each household will also receive ten bundles of sweet potato vines for planting along with refresher training on sustainable agriculture practices.