Vincent Gunde 
By Vincent Gunde
The Farmers Union of Malawi (FUM) KFW funded nutrition programme has exited in Dowa district with a recommendation of continuing providing regular feedback mechanisms between District team and Area Nutrition Coordinating Committee (ANCC) representatives to ensure data quality and timelines.
UNICEF in partnership with the Malawi Government through Farmers Union of Malawi (FUM) has been supporting implementation of Nutrition project funded by KFW in 5 districts of the country including Dowa.
Presenting the exit of the project to the district’s stakeholders in Dowa, FUM Nutrition programme Monitoring and Evaluation Officer Luckson Matiasi, said the project was being implemented in 5 districts of the country including Dowa from January to November, 2026 using multi – sectoral approach for effective implementation and sustainability of the interventions at both community and district level.
Farmers Union of Malawi is(FUM) was entrusted to provide support on component of the KFW programme including Early Childhood Development (ECD) whereby production and use of local play material is promoted, digitalization of reporting tools, and Nutrition – Smart income generating activities.
Matiasi said the programme was meant to strengthen the nutrition programme monitoring, supervision, evaluation capacities through integration and digitalization of tools.
He said the programme enhanced capacities of nutrition community structures and caregivers through participation in nutrition – Smart livelihood income generating activities and strengthened ECD activities in CBCCs targeting selected 35 ECDs across the 5 targeted districts including Dowa district.
The M/ E Officer said digitalization of nutrition reporting tools, training CBCC caregivers in making local playing materials using locally available materials, and training of cluster leaders in economic empowerment and Village Saving and Loans, have already been done.
Matiasi said the project has conducted some activities such as training 25 caregivers from 7 CBCCs in making local play materials, and DNCC and ANCC members on Digitalization of reporting tools, and monitoring of all activities, among others.
“Advancement of ECD has led to increased production and usage of local play materials in ECDs centres where the caregivers were trained, cluster leaders were also trained on income generating activitiesi, and reduced high enrollment of learners in some ECD centres due to the availability of the playing materials,” he said.
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However, Matiasi said the project has been meeting challenges in the course of implementation such as lack of reporting tools for cluster leaders – Care group cluster leaders don’t have hard covers to help them collect data, and data variability, among others.
In his remarks, Dowa District Council’s Principal Nutrition HIV/ AIDS Officer Noel Chikumbu, said the council is appreciating the support rendered by Farmers Union of Malawi (FUM) for the assets received such as a heavy – duty printer and phones which were given to ANCC representatives for recording data in their communities.
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Chikumbu thanked partners implementing various interventions in the district for supporting the project to achieve its planned objectives in Dowa district.
KFW, the project funder will present its end of the Nutrition programme in 5 districts of the country at the BICC in Lilongwe on the 9th December, 2026.
