Helping Your Community Forum

WHO WE ARE

Helping You Community Forum is a registered Youth Led Non-Government Organization based in Karonga, Malawi, Southeastern Africa. As an organization based in Malawi, we have seen the issues that families struggle dealing with gender inequalities and exposure to HIV/AIDs to pushing themselves to extreme conditions to meet basic necessities.

We strive to work with communities to foster change and through the generosity of donors and our wonderful team of volunteers, we are doing just that!

To achieve a sustainable community development in Karonga, Malawi, Helping Your Community Forum is working in five thematic areas:

1) Women and Youth Empowerment:

Training in income generation activities and encouragement to take part in decision making processes. Sexual and reproductive health Rights 

In order to contribute to the girl’s empowerment, the organization chose to focus on education. Many girls are not informed on how to handle their monthly period properly and miss school because they feel uncomfortable. Or they drop out after getting pregnant. This leaves them with a worse education than the male students are able to receive, limiting their future prospects. To avoid that, the organization takes responsibility by implementing sex education courses in secondary schools to raise awareness and provide accurate information to the students

2) Climate Change and Sustainable Agriculture: Tree planting activities, promotion and construction of improved firewood cooking stoves, briquette fabrication from rice husks, promotion of organic farming techniques and raising awareness about environmental issues.

3) Water, Sanitation and Hygiene: Training of villagers in hygienic issues, waste collection activities, facilitation of the construction of public toilets and awareness raising about the importance of a clean and hygienic environment.

4) HIV/AIDS and nutrition: 

Training and awareness raising on HIV/AIDS prevention and the importance of healthy nutrition.

5) Good Governance and Education:

Facilitation of access to schools for underprivileged girls and boys, managing pen-pal schemes to improve communication, cultural awareness and language skills. Also improving the transparency of governmental activities for the local communities.

VISION

At Helping You Community Forum(HYCF), we take a collaborative approach to our work and believe that those who live in the area are best able to assess needs and create solutions for the community.

We do not impose what we think should be solutions from the top-down, but rather work with community members from the ground up.

Our commitment to collaboration allows us to maximize impact and assist in the development of Karonga in a responsible and positive way.

All our projects have community ownership, which is demonstrated in two ways:

First, communities are enlisted to identify their needs and solutions, which becomes the basis of our work. We participate in the regular village needs assessment meetings attended by Village Headmen (chiefs), local village development committees, women’s groups, civil society leaders, and other community members. It is from these meetings that the concept, planning, and implementation stages of any of our projects begin. Furthermore, all work is vetted by community stakeholders. 

Second, communities contribute to the running of each project. Our approach emphasizes the personal responsibility and accountability of all partners involved.

This grassroots model for development utilizes local knowledge and ensures that we work in collaboration with traditional leaders and other like-minded players respecting cultural values and traditions. This process is assisted by the community liaison officer, who ensures that we stay fully engaged with everything taking place in the villages and vice versa.

We have expanded our programming, but maintain our focus on a relatively small geographic area of Mwenilondo in Karonga, Malawi. Remaining a local organization has a number of benefits. We have developed a strong rapport with stakeholders in the area, which helps us to run our many projects effectively. Working on the ground also allows us to have close and ongoing monitoring of all projects, and we pride ourselves on being able to adapt projects where necessary and learn through evaluation. This approach also ensures that all money donated is used in the most cost-effective way, as we have minimal overhead costs.