By Aliko Munde
Chitipa May 11, Mana: For many communities in Malawi, the self-help spirit faded after the ushering in of multi-party democracy in 1994 that shoveled away the famous Youth Week initiative that was instituted under Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda’s regime.
But that is not the case with some communities in the Chitipa district, including Mkumbilende, in Senior Chief Mwabulambya, where locals have teamed up and embarked on a project, the construction of a Junior Primary School, solely with community contribution.
The building under construction stands, beckoning roofing and finishing touches, at the end of a bumpy dirt road that passes through the Chisankhwa area via nkhangwa Trading Centre, a few kilometres to Tanzania border.
“We decided to contribute towards the construction of a primary school in our area since learners here travel long distances to access primary education,” explains Jane Seme of Mkumbilende Village in the district, “
The area, which has fertile soil, has a lot of subsistence farming, with lots of rivers and wetlands for cultivation, making it a nightmare for learners—especially in junior classes during rainy season.
According to Seme, a Standard 1 learner drowned not long ago as she attempted to cross a river on her way home from school, a development that scared many a junior learner in the village, leading to high dropout rate.
Mkumbilende area comprises 12 villages which all rely on schools from other distant surrounding villages, a gap that stirred the area’s development committee to consider acquisition of vast land where a self-help school would stand.
The community members were then briefed and sensitized on the need for the self-help project and the expected impact it would make among the villages.
“After the briefing, and observing that in our area there are many school going children staying at home due to long distances, we decided to reach out to our village heads and their subjects to consider constructing a primary school in our area,” explains Wisdom Mulungu, Mkumbilende Village Development Committee (VDC) Chairperson,According to Mulungu, each one of the 12 villages was given a target of K2 million to contribute towards the construction of a school block with two classrooms, and a total of K24 million was collected before the commencement of the project.
“We have constructed the school block using K15 million and we are remaining with roofing which will be done before the month-end of May and it is expected to cost us K9 million,” explains the VDC Chairperson.
The community is not leaving any stone unturned as a target has been set to construct two teachers’ houses before the 2026-2027 calendar rolls out in September this year.
Group Village Head (GVH) Mkumbilende is excited at how the construction works have progressed.
“I cannot wait to see the school open for Standards One and Two this September!” exclaims Mkumbilende.
“Come September next year, we will have put another school block for standard three and four and, gradually, we will be building school blocks until the school is a full primary school,” he continues.
According to the GVH, the community plans to build a full package of four school blocks and eight teachers’ houses and an administration block in four years, to have a complete full primary school.
“I am happy that we have started this journey: it is tough but rewarding because, currently, we have over 1,000 children who are just staying in their homes without going to school.
“Many people in our area are illiterate, which is painful to us as parents. We want to have a literate generation. That is why we decided to have our own school so that our children access primary education at their door step,” he says.
Government officials are saluting Mkumbilende for taking up the initiative of constructing the Junior primary school using community self help contribution, saying the approach is unique and rare.
Chitipa District Community Development Officer, Haddy Mulenga, says the school block is constructed in line with the required standards.
“When the communities have been empowered, they can do things that can surprise everybody. We went to all the ADCs to sensitise them on the importance of rekindling self-help spirit, at the same time enhancing self reliance among communities,” Mulenga says.
He commends community of Mkumbilende for acknowledging their problems and for embarking on the construction of the school block.
“The communities have accepted the self-help initiative and they are now implementing community development initiatives with all their strength.” Mulenga says.
Mkumbilende self-help school project is not an isolated development in Chitipa: the district has registered 123 similar projects in this year alone and some of them include construction of community nurses’ and teachers’ houses; clinics; school blocks; and bridges among others.
Community development extension staff in the district is assisting on the quality and durability of the projects.
The self-help initiatives speak to eradication of the spirit of dependency on aid and move towards self-reliance, which is one of the core objectives for Malawi 2063, the country’s development blueprint aimed at transforming the country into an inclusively wealthy and self-reliant industrialized nation.
The initiatives also embrace mindset change, the first and most critical enabler of the Malawi 2063, with focus on fostering patriotism, integrity, hard work, and a “can-do” attitude.
The self-help projects by communities in Chitipa also auger well with remarks by Minister of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare, Mary Navicha, during the launch of the 2026/2027 Community Development Month (CDM) initiative at Capital Hill in Lilongwe on April 29, 2026.
“The decline in the self-help spirit has reduced community participation, ownership, and sustainability of development activities: it is high time we worked together to develop our areas without relying on handouts,” Navicha is on record to have said.
The Minister emphasised on government’s commitment to promoting mindset change and reducing over-dependence on donors.
“CDM is about mindset change and reducing over-dependence on well-wishers and donors: We want communities to take the lead in their own development, with support from all stakeholders, for our country to develop,” she’s further quoted.
As the construction of a junior primary school steadily progresses at Mkumbilende area in Chitipa, the district’s Director of Education and Sports, Mcgiven Chinyamula, is eying the project with kin interest.
He applauds Mkumbilende VDC for taking the initiative to ease the current challenges in the area regarding education and to, also, decongest the existing schools around the area.
“The office is ensuring that they come up with standard structures and once the project is completed, the office will support the school with staff,” Chinyamula promises.
