WACRAD

WHO WE ARE

Word Alive Commission for Relief and Development (WACRAD) is a non-profit development agency of Word Alive Ministries International (WAMI), a local church registered with the Malawi Government on 8th July, 1987. WACRAD promotes cultural, social and economic development among vulnerable individuals and communities, according to Christian social values and the word of God as written in the Holy Bible.

VISION

Communities in which all persons live their lives in dignity and glorify God

MISSION

To enhance the capabilities of individuals, families and communities affected by multi-dimensional poverty and crises to build sustainable livelihoods

VALUES

  1. Godly Love – We identify ourselves with vulnerable groups and there is non-discrimination, serving people with no strings attached.
  2. Excellency – Focus on the quality of the product, learning from practical field experiences and make use lessons learned for quality improvement in approaches.
  3. Integrity –Trustworthiness, honesty and accountability to God, beneficiaries and stakeholders
  4. Synergy – We understand the need for networking and collaboration with other development players no one institution can address all society and community problems.

History

WACRAD began in 1992 as an HIV and AIDS initiative of the church operating at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre under the identity Intervention Counselling and Care (ICOCA). It was founded by Rev. Barbara Tippett as a service to God for miraculous healing she experienced after 3 major spinal operations. Church members voluntarily took turns to provide care and support to patients that were stigmatised and dying of AIDS at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital before HIV medication became available in Malawi. The work made significant difference among the patients and their families resulting in external partners and individuals joining in the provision of care. To date, WACRAD has three main sources of income; Word Alive church (3% of tithe offerings are given towards relief work), private individual sponsors, and local/international funding partners.

Due to changes in the external environment, ICOCA expanded its scope of interventions from 2009 beyond HIV and AIDS, a step that necessitated change of name to WACRAD. WACRAD’s current strategic plan identifies 3 thematic areas namely Health and HIV/AIDS, education and child protection, and disaster risk reduction. Geographically, the commission grew from operating at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (largest referral hospital in Malawi) in Blantyre to working in 11 districts across the 3 regions of Malawi.

What we do

WACRAD mobilises churches and communities to promote approaches that help poor individuals, families and communities take charge of their own development and build resilient livelihoods. The commission’s 2022-2026 strategic plan identifies three thematic areas as below;

  • Health and HIV/AIDS services

We work to increase access to better healthcare including HIV/AIDS services for the general population

  • Education and Child Protection

We empower children and youth with life changing-opportunities for their spiritual, emotional and socio-economic development

  • Disaster Risk Reduction

We strengthen resilience of vulnerable communities to reduce disaster risks and adapt to climate change

Where we work

WACRAD works in all three regions in Malawi in 8 districts namely Blantyre, Nsanje, Chikwawa, Mulanje and Phalombe in Southern Region, Lilongwe and Dedza in Central region and Rumphi in Northern Region.

Impact

In 2023, WACRAD assisted the following people through various interventions;

  • Provided rapid HIV tests to 3,494 patients at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital
  • Provided early infant diagnosis to 296 exposed infants to promote prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV
  • Monitored and retained on lifelong ART 121 HIV positive patients
  • Reached out to over 4,600 school age vulnerable children with health screening and referral services
  • Provided 230 insecticide treated mosquito nets to 115 vulnerable households living in malaria prone areas of the lower shire valley
  • Provided support to 20 parenting education clubs
  • Provided training to 55 early childhood development caregivers
  • Promoted access to formal education to 18,600 vulnerable children
  • Provided psychosocial support to 1,500 orphans and other vulnerable children
  • Provided education bursaries to 45 needy students (2 in special needs institutions, 41 in secondary schools and 2 in tertiary institutions).
  • Conducted child protection awareness campaigns in 6 communities
  • Established 5 new self-help groups for ultra-poor women
  • Provided entrepreneurship and vocational training to 124 people
  • Provided food and non-food items to 3,605 internally displaced families affected by Tropical Cyclone Freddy.
  • Mobilised 9 new churches to promote church and community approach

WACRAD COMMISSIONS CHIVWANYUMA MODEL COMMUNITY BASED CHILD CARE CENTRE AS A GATEWAY TO QUALITY ECD SERVICES DELIVERY.  

At 44 percent, access to centre based early childhood development services in Malawi is very low. Even for those that have access, the learning experience is poor as most centres are constructed using temporary materials and they often pose a threat to the lives of the children. In order to reduce the huge gap in terms of access (as 56% of the illegible children still do not access ECD centre services) WACRAD is promoting delivery of quality early childhood development services through establishment and strengthening capacity of community based child-care centres (CBCC). In 2023, WACRAD completed construction of Chivwanyuma CBCC in the area of traditional authority Mwalweni in Rumphi District. The project was implemented with financial support Help a Child (HAC) and Universitus.

During the commissioning of the model CBCC, the district and community stakeholders were grateful for the new development. For example, Group Village Headman Chikakula said, “As a chief of this village, I never dreamt that we would have a CBCC structure of this magnitude.    I am so happy to have this structure in my village as our kids will have a safe learning space.” Additionally, Rumphi District Commissioner, Emmanuel Bulukutu said that out of 315 CBCCs introduced in the district, 202 centres are operating in unsafe environment. Our children are learning in churches and in poor infrastructures. We are very pleased that WACRAD has started constructing model structures where our children can learn.” He said.  Ministry of Gender, Director of Child Affairs in Ministry of Gender Justin Hamela said he was impressed with the organisation’s contribution towards promoting ECD in the district. “This is an example of the CBCC that we would want in our country. We want other partners to emulate what the organisation has implemented,” he said during commissioning event.

 

Since 2022, WACRAD has established 22 CBCCs in T/A Mwalweni in Rumphi working with 78 caregivers and 718 children of the ages between 0 to 8 years.

Mobile Outreach Clinics

Access to healthcare services remains a big challenge in most rural communities in Malawi. This is largely due to shortage of health workers, low healthcare capacity, poverty and long distances that people are required to travel to access healthcare services. WACRAD collaborates with public health professionals to bring the healthcare services closer to such vulnerable.

Organise community mobile health screening clinics to ensure vulnerable people residing in hard to reach communities are not dying from preventable causes. The clinics are often conducted at near-by public schools.

Our Partners

To achieve our results, we collaborate with various vision partners including volunteers, sponsors and funding partners. The current funding partners include Word Alive Ministries international, Kindernothilfe, Red een Kind, World Renew, E3 Initiative, World Bicycle Relief and Project Possible.