“I have been struggling to support my grandchildren with this little money,” said Sululu.

Another woman, 55-year-old Estere Nogwe from Chipoka village in the same district also has been a beneficiary of SCTP since 2015. She has built a house through proceeds from SCTP but she admits, it was not easy.

The two women told Zodiak Online on Tuesday that in 2019 they were linked to the Social Support for Resilience (SoSuRe) Program which the United Purpose is implementing in the district.

“From SoSuRe, I received two goats which multiplied to six and I passed two others so currently I have four,” said Sululu.

At Mpumphira village in Traditional Authority Nkanda, SoSuRe supported Chitsanzo SCTP women in baking. The group’s secretary Anna Weston told Zodiak Online that SoSuRe provided them with all baking raw materials in February this year and that marked the beginning of their bakery.

“We first started a VSL group in 2019 and at the time United Purpose came with the SoSuRe project, we only had K12, 300 and they gave us all required raw materials for a bakery. To date we have K250, 000 in our bank account,” said Weston.

Social Welfare Officer responsible for SCTP at Mulanje District Council Amos Chandilanga said apart from United Purpose, the SCTP beneficiaries have also been linked to Community Savings and Investment Promotion (COMSIP), NBS bank and FINCA.

“Realizing that the money these people receive is not enough to sustain their livelihoods, we decided to introduce them to different economic development programs like VSLs, small scale irrigation farming and livestock production,” said Chandilanga.

SoSuRe Project Manager Rosemary Harawa Kabanga said without proper capacity building, the SCTP beneficiaries cannot properly utilize the little they receive.

“We are proud to mention that the feedback we are getting from these people indicates that there is a better transformation of their livelihoods,” said Harawa.

United Purpose is implementing the SoSuRe Program in Mulanje with support from the European Union.