Chitipa is the northernmost district in the Northern Region of Malawi, which covers 4,288 km.², and a population of 234,247.  Afikepo Programme under Sustainable agriculture is being implemented with financial support from the European Union with the total sum of EUR 70, 000 000 with the aim of eradicating malnutrition in Malawi through improving; access to diversified foods in households; increasing knowledge on feeding and caring practices; social and cultural barriers that prevent uptake of good health and nutrition.

In Chitipa district Afikepo Programme is covering 5TAs and 20 primary schools thereby reaching a total number of 20,496 households. 204 care groups have been formed in the district where women of childbearing age, adolescent girls, and care givers of infant and young children are being trained to enhance their nutritional status and also that of their children and to support them in addressing their household needs. 

Mercy Simbeye is a promoter of Lusako Care group in Chitipa which has 10 members. She expresses her gratitude with the introduction of the Afikepo Programme in her district which has greatly benefited their community by introducing the 6 food group healthy eating and the hygiene and sanitation part of it “we are extremely grateful for the coming in of the care groups in our communities here in Chitipa. Our community is transformed, our babies are healthy and our households are smart. We did not know that we could make 6 food groups using locally available food, we thought healthy eating was only for the rich people in the cities”.

Ishalikira Primary School is one of the 20 primary schools that are benefiting from the Afikepo Nutrition and Access to Primary Education (NAPE). The programme established school feeding program which ensures that pupils are given nutritious rich food at school every day in order to achieve this, the project provides ingredients to the schools as startup and further encourages communities to grow crops on fields allocated by local leaders for sustainability of the Programme. Ishalikira community in Chitipa lead by the TA has grown: 3 acres of Soya beans, 1.5 acres of groundnuts, 0.25 acres of sweet potatoes, 0.5 acres of orchard and 0.25 acres of cassava.

NAO representative Mr. Chiukepo Luhanga speaks on behalf of both the EU and the Government of Malawi during a demonstration ceremony held at Ishalikira Primary School

Kusalifya Masebo, the Head teacher of Ishalikira Primary School expressed his gratitude on the input that the project has provided to the school such as: the introduction of the feeding programme, the construction of the modern Kitchen and the provision of seeds and seedlings, as this has played a big role in improving the enrolment of the pupils at the school. “our pupils are healthy as such absentism has been reduced by 13%, School dropout has been reduced by 5%  and the passing rate has improved by 30%, this has never happened in the history of our school as such all we can say is thank you to the Afikepo NAPE project”.