Charles Mazinga, Deputy Director for Malawi’s Ministry of Education, Science and Technology at the Department of School Health, Nutrition, HIV and AIDS, is a dedicated individual who became involved with the Global Child Nutrition Foundation (GCNF) in 2008 at the Global Child Nutrition Forum in Philadelphia, United States. Mr. Mazinga recently joined GCNF and the School Nutrition Association (SNA) in Washington, DC for SNA’s annual 4-day Legislative Action Conference (LAC) during February 26-March 3. In addition to attending LAC, Mr. Mazinga spoke about the importance of school feeding in Malawi at GCNF’s A Possible Dream Gala on March 2. Mr. Mazinga’s participation in LAC and the Gala were made possible by Winston Industries’ Policy Scholar Program. To date, Winston has sponsored four such scholars for GCNF and SNA.
As a result of Charles Mazinga’s ongoing involvement with GCNF, Mr. Mazinga has learned how to effectively monitor and evaluate his country’s program and he feels that this is a direct result of attending the previous Global Child Nutrition Forums. GCNF’s Forum helped Mr. Mazinga develop a more organized school feeding program in Malawi. The recent policy in Malawi has been to scale up the school meals program, and the targets outlined in GCNF’s School Feeding Toolkit have proven to be very effective for the development of school feeding in Malawi. For Mr. Mazinga, the keys to a successful school meals program should include a sense of commitment and utilizing a political climate that is favorable to a school meals program. Mr. Mazinga feels that, in order to make a school feeding program sustainable, “it must be backed by policy that will mobilize resources.” Currently, Mr. Mazinga is working on a School Nutrition Intervention which is comprised of three parts: school meals, nutrition education and curriculum review and promotion of planting trees during the rainy season. Mr. Mazinga noted that the tremendous progress that has been made can be attributed to political stability in Malawi and the current leadership of His Excellency, Ngwazi Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika, President of the Republic of Malawi.
Malnutrition rates are a continuous reminder for Mr. Mazinga that during his lifetime he hopes to alleviate childhood malnutrition in Malawi. Malnutrition is a vicious cycle that weakens immune systems, creates barriers to learning and makes it nearly impossible for a person to lead a healthy and productive life. Mr. Mazinga is keenly aware of the interconnectedness between malnutrition and the host of other problems it perpetuates, including exacerbated complications with HIV/AIDS. Mr. Mazinga has dedicated much of his professional life to finding solutions for HIV and AIDS in the education sector.
In December of 2009, an earthquake struck the Karonga district of Malawi. The devastation of this quake lacked publicity in many news sources, as few deaths were reported. However, the quake managed to destroy essential components of Malawian society including classrooms, kitchens, and latrines. The school feeding programs that were beginning to thrive broke into pieces in a matter of minutes. Mr. Mazinga left his home for nearly three weeks to assist with the clean up after the earthquake. The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, in conjunction with UNICEF, Red Cross and the Malawi Defense Force, provided temporary living spaces and conducted reconstruction assessments. Mr. Mazinga specifically focused on classroom assessments and found that 127 school blocks (classrooms) need to be rehabilitated. 34 school blocks need to be reconstructed. 146 teachers’ houses need to be reconstructed.
Although Mr. Mazinga sees the earthquake as devastating, he also sees it as a way to move forward. He noted that many of the collapsed buildings were not structurally sound. As a result, the government is designing plans for reconstruction that will require school buildings to meet stricter standards. Malawi is currently seeking resources to fix school kitchens, and the government has sent officers from the Ministry to offer psychosocial support training to learners, teachers and school employees.
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