Chideso Childcare and Community Assistant

About the Program

The ‘Child Development Support Organization’, called Chideso for short, is a community-based organisation in the Masasa community in Mzuzu city in the north of Malawi. The organization was established in 2007 and is registered with the Ministry of Gender, Women, Children and Community Development Services.

Chideso is a development support organisation, and focuses on children’s rights and development by running a variety of support projects.

Their involvement with early development of children, training in vocational skills for adults, general life skills development and HIV/AIDS education and prevention are an essential need in this community, with many challenges such as income generation, extreme poverty, low life expectancy, child neglect and more. Their work brings the opportunity for this community to get help and support in creating better lives.

Typical Tasks

Early Childhood Development

Chideso has 3 early childhood development centres (pre-schools) of children between the ages of 2-5 years with the current enrolment of 138 (boys-64 and girls 74). 

Child Protection Advocacy 

The rights of children are the pivotal point of Chideso programs. We make every effort to teach awareness to the community about the rights of children and duties of the households in upholding these rights. Chideso advocates for the rights of children with different stakeholders and duty bearers, such as educators, churches, community groups and others. Some of the biggest challenges in the abuse of the rights of children are; sexual abuse, child labour (mostly for girls) and early marriage where girls as young as 14 are married off.

Education Support to Orphans

Volunteers will assist the project as it supports education in the following ways;

• Paying school fees for orphans and other vulnerable children.
• Providing them with school uniforms and other learning materials like note books, pens and mathematical instruments.
• Conducting debates and interschool quizzes to encourage learning and critical thinking skills.
• Working with school authorities in improving sanitation through construction of latrines and providing sanitary pads for girls.

HIV and AIDS Prevention

As HIV and AIDS are a very serious social problem in most parts of Malawi, the Masasa community is not spared from this. Chideso is working with the community in prevention, care and support through 2 HIV/AIDS support groups for people living with HIV/AIDS.

Youth Development and Sports

Volunteers can get involved in helping Chideso with a range of youth programs and activities, such as;

• Youth leadership skills and life skills
• Career guidance for youth
• HIV/AIDS education and prevention of other sexually transmitted infections
• Youth-aimed community charity work programs
• Sports and recreational activities.

There are a few things to do in Mzuzu. There is a shopping centre with a modern supermarket, an internet cafe and a few restaurants where you can go to. Furthermore you can go hiking in the Mkuwazi forest reserve! If you like to do more, you can go a little bit further by public transport or rent a car and you can do it yourself!