Nkhudzi Bay Cooperation Circle (CC) is located in the area of Traditional Authority Nankumba in Mangochi District, Malawi.
Nkhudzi Bay CC is involved in many projects, including farming to help address food insecurity and education for girls and young women to help those who left school before graduating to return to school.
In terms of food, in Africa, discussions about poverty and economic challenges are often intertwined with issues of food security. Despite the ongoing conversation, a painful truth remains, namely, that Africa possesses vast expanses of land that could be transformed into productive resources to combat food insecurity and reduce poverty.
In Africa, many people share these same questions: Why is there a food shortage in Africa? Is there hope for a solution? Who can provide answers to these pressing problems?
As part of addressing food insecurity, Nkhudzi Bay CC has, and continues, to explore various farming techniques.
In terms of education for girls and young women, the initiative began with the building of a washroom and sanitary products so that girls wouldn’t have to miss school when they were menstruating. The project was under the banner “Girls Not Brides.”
Over time, it became clear that girls and young women who had left school due to poverty, pressure to begin work at a young age, pressure to marry at a young age, and the inability to attend school while menstruating due to a lack of toilets and sanitary products later wished to return to school. This led to the formation of a private secondary school in Nkhudzi Bay that functioned quite successfully until it could no longer be funded.
Nkhudzi Bay CC then worked on making other arrangements for the girls and young women who continued meeting even when the school was no longer functioning. First, a volunteer teacher joined the students and then arrangements were made for girls and young women from Nkhudzi Bay to attend the Private Secondary School in Monkey Bay.
Eventually, if funds become available, Nkhudzi Bay CC is also imagining the possibility of creating a new private secondary in Nkhudzi Bay. In the meantime, Nkhudzi Bay CC is very grateful to the Private Secondary School in Monkey Bay for the opportunity it provides for the girls and young women who attend from Nkhudzi Bay.
