The Hope Ambassadors programme continues to grow into a vibrant hub for nurturing talent, creating career opportunities, and building brighter futures for young people in Songani. Through mentorship, skills development, and educational support, the programme is empowering young people to discover their potential and pursue their dreams.

One inspiring success story is that of Ruth Zebron Kankhunda, a long-time member of Hope Ambassadors whose journey demonstrates the transformative impact of the programme.

The challenges facing young people in Malawi as they aspire to achieve their potential are massive. We celebrate with Fedson Nthentha as he now completes his University Education. It is a great joy for us that we were able to be part of his journey along with many others.

In this blog, our Head of Communications, Chitsimikiso Kalanje discusses the impact of our library at the Songani Centre.

Our Hope Ambassadors recently graduated after completing their Leadership Award Programme. This followed a year of service to the community and the development of skills in areas such as leadership, entrepreneurship, drama and theatre and sports. Mbedza’s Prisca Ibbu reflects what has been achieved.

We are serious about monitoring and reducing tree loss to the minimum possible. The job doesn’t end when a tree sapling is planted but that is the start. Our team monitor all trees for several years until the community is ready for the handover stage.

In this blog post we explore how Mbedza monitors nearly 150,000 trees and the challenges of tree loss.

This blog tries to give a snapshot of what Mbedza looks like on the ground at any given moment. There is a gallery of photos from several programmes. The UK Director highlights some of the achievements of the last year and challenges ahead.

Hunger is a problem that is not going away. It is a remarkable characteristic of Malawians that they have such resilience. Trying to go to school and study on empty stomachs is a feature of school life that we may be unfamiliar with. Mbedza is trying to introduce other food resilience strategies for our Orphan Education Households.

It’s one of the busiest times of the year for our environment team as they work with communities to distribute and plant 30,000 saplings. We are also celebrating the impact of our Tiyeni training and planning further training to improve food resilience.

2025 proved to be a far more successful year in delivering poverty reduction programmes than Mbedza had anticipated. In this blog post the UK Director reflects on an encouraging 2025 and hopes for 2026.

Our MOEP students returned to school on January 5th 2026. The Government has abolished school fees for Secondary School. Prisca Ibbu, MOEP student support officer, explores here the poverties that prevent children from being in school. Why is it that only 33% of children complete Primary School and 15% Secondary?

A busy start to the new school year sees Daphney Phiri and Prisca Ibbu with much to do. From introducing new contracts with students, distributing school materials, visiting schools, distributing maize and hosting a school group from the UK.

There is much to grateful for, especially being able to recruit 19 new students this year.

In this blog we discover more about the life of one of Mbedza’s staff members. What does their life look like outside of work? Bainatu - our female HIV Counsellor invited our Comms team to come and discover.

A seed planted in her mind at the age of 6, in this blog, Jessie Akambadi tells her story that has led to her being in London studying a PHD.

We rejoice with Jessie who will be a great ambassador for Mbedza and Malawi over the next three years.

Reflecting on their whole experience with Mbedza in Malawi this is Tom and Bree’s final blog post.

In 2024 30 youths graduated in Mbedza’s Youth Leadership Award Scheme. As we launch the second round of this educational programme our Hope Ambassadors are receiving training in theatre for development, entrepreneurship training and leadership.

They are already at work in the communities coordinating hand in hand with Mbedza’s HIV team to bring life saving messages.

We recently launched the Girls Nest Club as part of our Orphan Education Programme. The event brought together all female students in Forms 2, 3 and 4. This initiative is designed to inspire confidence, nurture talents, and build resilience among young girls, equipping them with the skills and support they need to thrive.

Building stoves in larger villages is a great challenge for us. In 2025, thank you to support from our 2024 Christmas Big Give donors we were able to send our stove team to Monkey Bay to build in Kamphande village.

Mbedza Volunteers Tom and Bree explore the Beauty of Malawi

Mbedza’s 2025 - 2026 environment programme for tree planting begins with the training and preparation for 6 tree nurseries this month.

We were able to select 6 communities for this task although many more are crying out for this intervention. Important lessons continue to be learned from previous programmes.

Tom recounts his (almost!) first month in Malawi with Mbedza and reflects on his experience so far volunteering with various projects.