No adequate drinking water. No regular access to basic nutritional needs. That’s how over one billion people in the world currently live. The Salvation Army seeks to provide for these very basic human needs, bringing hope to individuals, families, and entire communities. Hope for survival.
With enough clean water and basic sanitation services, public health and education begin to improve, poverty is reduced, and women begin to feel empowered. Along with the need for adequate drinking water, there is a need for food security.
Food security is “providing a people with access to nutritious food at all times.” Food security aims to redress chronic poverty resulting from poor access, inadequate availability, and poor utilization of food.
These objectives are achieved by improving food availability and access by increasing agricultural production and incomes. The program seeks to improve infrastructure through a strategic process of improving agricultural practices, linking production and marketing, and strengthening farmer organizational capacity.
In Malawi, The Salvation Army is working to improve food availability and access by increasing agricultural production and incomes, increasing household adoption of improved nutrition and health behaviors and improve food utilization of malnourished children and chronically ill-affected households.
Project activities will promote better nutrition practices, community health awareness campaigns, community and home vegetable gardening, and improved capacity of community health workers to deliver sustainable quality health services within their communities; and promoting increased accountability, transparency, and effectiveness of district government structures and national civil society capacity to sustain development activities.
The Salvation Army in Malawi with International Food Relief Partnership distributes food to chronically ill people and orphans and vulnerable children every three months.
Training on the following topics are offered in the community: community health education, people living with AIDS nutrition education, household counseling, breastfeeding guidelines, home based care providers education, HIV/AIDS prevention messages, hygiene and sanitation, malaria prevention, as well as recognizing signs of malnutrition in children. In 2006 alone, 17,000 households received assistance from this program.
Each donation provides for the construction of clean water harvesting structures, the opportunity for orphans and vulnerable children receive nutritious food rations, or for a hungry family to receive seeds to plant a crop.
