Open Arms Malawi is dedicated to saving and improving the lives of vulnerable children in Malawi. We work closely with families and communities to ensure they have the resources to raise healthy children at home and become self-sufficient.
Malawi faces significant challenges as one of the poorest countries in the world. Most of the population live below the international poverty line, relying heavily on farming in a climate vulnerable to erratic rainfall and storms. Each day, almost 100 babies die before their first birthday from preventable causes like malnutrition and disease. There is an urgent need for support and intervention.
At the core of our work is a commitment to empower vulnerable families by working within existing Malawian systems. Family structures in Malawi are strong and supportive but often lack resources which puts children at risk.
We work closely with the department of Social Welfare and guardians to make sure children can survive their early years and be raised at home successfully.
Our approach focuses on three key areas:
We support vulnerable babies from birth to 3 years old by providing:
Due to the importance of a stable family unit our support extends to siblings and guardians too. We offer:
As well as vital help for babies who are at risk we also support families of older children who need more support. This help is tailored to their individual needs and the resources they have available and aims to guide families into long term self-sufficiency through:
The Open Arms team are embedded within the communities we work with and have built up a trusted relationship with village leaders over many years. We work with local systems to improve community life such as providing nursery education to over 600 children in nine remote village schools.
These facilities have become an invaluable resource to local communities and local primary school report positively on the transition that children make to school because of the head start that they have received at nursery.
We also support specific development projects in under represented villages by working with local leaders and groups to understand their challenges and collaborate on solutions to these.
We work hard to move families from being recipients of aid and dependent on handouts to becoming active participants in their own progress. By taking the time to educate and work with families in this way, we promote self-sufficiency and create sustainable change which carefully avoids dependency.
This creates a ripple effect that transforms lives and fosters independence within vulnerable communities building brighter futures now and for the next generation.
“The impact of Open Arms’ professional and efficient model is highly effective. The sustainability of returning infants to their communities, rather than keeping them institutionalised for their whole lives, creates empowerment and benefit reaching further than the walls of the homes.” - Becky Bottle (volunteer in Malawi)
Your donation will help children in Malawi grow up healthy with the love of a family
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