Building Community Resilience with SLM : A Case for Malawi

Abstract

It all started in 24^th April 2012 when In Balaka the Mawelanyangu hills were burnt and women were already digging for water in the sand bed of the Mkandabwako stream a tributary of the Nkasi river which is a tributary  of the Shire River. This dire situation prompted action.The GVH Silika Communities were mobilized and the situation explained to them and that the answer lay with them since they owned the land. This led to the revival of the VDC subcommittees when the village decided to take responsibility for their area, as well as the VNRMC to lead the formation of a bushfire control committee under the VNRMC and an action plan drawn-up with the assistance of the DFO and DLRCO. The plan spelt out how they would manage the land and its resources. Of the almost 3000ha only about 10ha was burnt by the end of that dry season and as the rains set in there was little runoff due to the grass cover and the trees and coppices. The encouraged villagers went on to cut a firebreak round the boundaries of the GVH’s land resources and with advice further they cut other internal firebreaks dividing the land into 7 sections.During the 2013/14 the Nkasi river was flowing up to mid-Sept as opposed to the April scenario. The 2014 dry season saw the river flow up to October and the ensuing storms that led to floods made no dent in this landscape as the well grassed well treed landscape absorbed all the rain water and minimized runoff, which was contrary to the neighbouring communities which sustained massive damages to their croplands and homesteads. This land management has given this community resilience to floods to crop failures and food security. The GVHs of Muotcha , and Simbota that followed the footsteps of the Silika GVH sustained some damages but not like the other none participating GVHs, damage was proportionate to the level of improvement they had achieved in two seasons.This pathway had its own challenges like the desponded charcoal burners who wanted to continue their trade. This process was just as good as the village leadership and his/her community.   We are telling the masses how to be resilient, hence on 28^th February an article was put on The Nation and the Standard and we will not stop telling the success story.