Coady Profile: Ndawona Dennis Mwafulirwa
November 30, 2009 12:27 PM
Ndawona Dennis Mwafulirwa is from Lilongwe, the capital city of Malawi. He works for the Centre for Community Empowerment and Development (CECAD), an organization that promotes human rights through the support of community initiatives.
CECAD has two areas of particular interest in terms of community development: 1) poverty reduction and inequalities, and 2) climate change and environmental management. It targets these areas with a special focus on the roles of young people throughout this process.
In terms of addressing poverty and social inequality, CECAD works with street children, offering rehabilitation programs which help children to recover from the stress and trauma of life on the streets through psycho-social therapy and the provision of “life skills training.” This aims to build the self-esteem of these young people and help them re-enter mainstream society.
Dennis cites this aspect of CECAD as one of the most fulfilling parts of his job because of his own personal history.
“I have been in a lot of situations,” he says. “I have been in the street. I know what life is like in the street. So working with my organization becomes interesting because I am able to make a contribution towards changing lives of other young people from the same experiences.”
CECAD is also working to get young people in general to become more involved in the development process in Malawi, particularly with respect to the country’s national development plan, the National Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper.
“What we are doing is trying to raise awareness among young people about the national policy,” says Dennis.
“We are also training them on how best they can actively and meaningfully participate in the development process. Our group has also been involved in advocacy movements, lobbying the government to address issues facing people which have not been addressed by the national policy so far.”
CECAD has made similar lobbying efforts with regards to government environmental policy.
In Malawi, waste management is a pressing concern. According to Dennis, in most parts of the country it is common practice to simply dump one’s garbage in the street.
“But we are trying to change that,” he says. “We are raising awareness in communities on how people can manage their waste sustainably, how to properly dispose of products… [The government can help] even by just putting out litter bins.”
CECAD also works in high schools to raise awareness about climate change and how human activities effect the environment. Dennis and other members of CECAD have helped to organize student groups that have, in turn, lobbied at the national and international levels for resolutions and policies that will protect the environment.
One of the biggest challenges facing CECAD has been obtaining enough resources to implement their programs.
“The reason being,” says Dennis, “that the government and most development actors do have trust in us, as young people. They have continued to think young people are future leaders, a problem to be solved, that we don’t’ have the capacity to make contribution to the national development now.”
Dennis says that studying at the Coady International Institute has been a beneficial experience, particularly because it has encouraged him to strive to make his organization less donor-dependent.
“Mostly we have looked at what the outside has for us—what government can do for us, what the private sector can do for us, what donors can do for us, instead of examining what we have and how we can use these [assets] to reach our goals.”
When asked if there is anything else he has learned from his time here in Canada, Dennis indicates another area in which greater awareness must be raised.
“While I am here I have learned there is still a gap between young people in the north and young people in the south… Most people in the north still see the south only in terms of poverty… I will see how [CECAD] can make a contribution to this as an organization. To encourage networking between young people in the north and young people in the south so we can learn from each other. Because apart from working in the local context, I think [CECAD] can contribute to the global context.”
