The Norwegian Church Aid and Dan Church Aid joint programme in Malawi has announced that it will incorporate climate and environmental stewardship into its new five-year strategy.
The initiative expands upon the organisation’s work in humanitarian response, inequality reduction, and gender-based violence prevention.
“The new thematic area we have launched today, which we will be building upon over the next five years, is climate and environmental stewardship,” said Stephan Jensen, country director for NCA-DCA Malawi, on Friday, March 14, 2025.
Jensen identified environmental degradation as a critical gap in their previous strategic approach, both globally and specifically within Malawi.
The programme will collaborate with faith-based leaders and civil society organisations to promote sustainable environmental practices, including tree planting and new concepts around greening and climate change mitigation.
“It will be an exciting journey for us as we expand our work in this new thematic area,” Jensen said.
Deputy Minister of Gender and Social Welfare, Halima Daudi, welcomed the strategy, noting the government’s satisfaction with previous NCA-DCA initiatives.
“In the previous strategy, as a country, we benefitted a lot because it was targeting the vulnerable people in our rural areas, especially in times of shocks like Cyclone Freddy,” Daudi said.
“With the coming of the new strategy, we know that we are also going to benefit a lot.”
The new focus aims to integrate environmental concerns into the organisation’s broader mission of social transformation throughout Malawi.
By Ireen Kayira, AfricaBrief