The river bed prior to
dredging; filled with debris
and sand.
Rivers of Life Evangelical Church (ROLEC)
The Mwanalundu River is in the disaster prone area of Nsanje district in south Malawi and is
affected almost every year by floods and/or drought. Yearly the river in the area bursts its
banks and affects the local population in three villages in particular as it flows down from the
Chididi hills. Last year approximately 733 households were affected and 11,700 hectares of
farm land was flooded. In response, ROLEC mobilised the community to mitigate further
damage through river dredging or de-silting.
By taking the villages in the area through the PADR process, it was also recognised that
deforestation was the main contributor to the accumulation of debris in the river bed. In
response, communities planted trees and Napier grass along the river bank and established
tree nurseries, with support from the Department of Forestry, who provided them with seeds
and polythene tubes. This cash for work programme encouraged community member
participation and enabled people to buy basic household goods as well as seeds in time for
planting season.
Over 1000 community members, male and female, participated in the cash for work scheme
and the Village Headman of Luciano, one of the affected villages, described how the work on
Mwanalundu has benefited the community in flood mitigation by expressing his desire to copy
what ROLEC and the people of Mwanalundu have done by digging the river bed. ‘Chaka
chino tikungomva za kusefukira kwa madzi’ which means; “this year we are only hearing of
floods from other areas.’ This mitigation work has also helped prevent interruptions in
attendance at the local school.