The Middle, The End, The Beginning

Malawi is one of the least-developed countries in the world and most of its population which is largely comprised of youth lives on subsistence farming. The elimination of hunger is one of the UN's top priorities and a key part is the promotion of sustainable agriculture We cannot talk about sustainable agriculture without inclusion of  ‪#‎ youth‬ and  ‪#‎ ICTs‬  in this digital age Are you a youth leader with a vision in agricultural entrepreneurship for youth? Are you an  ‪# ‎ ICTGeek‬  with innovative brains for  ‪#‎ AgriHackathon‬ ? Or whatever you are but with a passion for youth development and you believe  ‪#‎ Ag4Youth‬  is a way to go? Join Farm Radio Trus t,  National Youth Council of Malawi  and  ‪#‎ TimveniTV‬  for Youth, ICTs and Agriculture Conference on October 22, 2015 at Malawi Institute of Management as we open opportunities for representatives in the agricultural sector to showcase products and servi...

I have always believed that to end illiteracy we need to invest in education and training. In this age where every talk is about the use of ICTs for transformation and change then we need to invest in training for those we work with. This short video features myself during training sessions with farmers. Farm Radio Trust  provides  multi-functional  radio sets to Community Groups that we work with. These radio sets are solar powered, they have lighting bulbs, they can charge phones and an SD card for digital audio recording and storage. Farmers are trained on how to record their discussions based on topics, record local music, poems or plays. These recordings are then collected by broadcasters for airing, while some community members are able to travel to radio stations to submit on their own especially with community radios. Other groups have been supported with Android Phones so they can use them to record and send recording via whatsapp.  I be...

Consultative Meeting with Farmers on ICT4Ag, MIM-Lilongwe March 12-13, 2015 Have been very busy of late, even writing my own things was far from me. I have had very beautiful moments worthy capturing and sharing. But I can tell it has been the happiest time of times. Happiness because a number of things are moving in the right direction; perfect because a number of them are happening as planned. One of the major things happened a week ago. March 12-13 2015 will be memorable in my career as an ICT4D Profession. I met farmers who  traveled  from the deepest rural to participate in a consultative meeting to bang heads and plan wayward together about ICT4D projects. Thanks to Farm RadioTrust for convening the great meeting. Farmers were brought in so that we should share with them our idea, so that we should also learn from their ideas. Farmers are only ignorant on things they haven't experienced. Train them, they become experts that make things work. So we...

Source: Nation Online Good people, this news is scaring, it gave me a bad day! am so afraid of a Malawian girl. I thought there is bright future for her, yes there is future but I think we see it the other side only, while the other side is so dangerous to our nation. But I have hope that we can turn things around if we collectively stand up, voice out and act. Apparently this report is coming out soon after our good law makers passed the marriage age bill. This report may be is revealing how important this bill would be if it was passed some years ago. May be it would protect some of these good girls because they would realize they are underage and not pretty good for them to indulge in such immoral acts. However it's clear that some of these girls are victims of other human issues therefore its very unfortunate and not something to laugh at. But to the other side this report is a result of lack of sex education in Malawi Everyone has been young before and some s...

Fishing on Lake Malawi , Photo by Clement Shema So many things happened last week, so many stories came up, confusing, frustrating, surprising, entertaining and funny. I have two to share, one is frustrating the other is interesting The World Bank report about Malawi being the poorest country in the world is disappointing but true. It is painful to be told you are poor or you are from a poor family. Every time I hear about poor country poor people poor this, I get annoyed. Poverty is not an enterprise and there is no industry that manages it. Not long ago Malawi was the fastest growing economy after Qatar, how things have turned against us I don't understand. I don't want to talk about politics and leadership am interested in Malawi for Malawians. What a beautiful country we are, with all good, peaceful, friendly and hard working people. We are a people that knows how to work to impress and achieve. We have natural resources one day things will be sweeter than e...

Phil Chinkhokwe   Before I go, I have to share with you, MyFriday! Still working around the 2015 big task, designing and setting up the Farmers Call Centre at Farm Radio Trust, its getting me busy I must admit, but it's interesting, it's a nice challenge, it is that part of it why I was hired, not to prove myself, but to work, and achieve. So, I spent MyFriday studying and writing, had many clicks on Google search. So it was a busy day for me and my head. Still more, new things came along, challenges, puzzles and surprises; but I avoided confusions. You know I work around innovations, my job involves innovative thinking. So I make a little surprises sometimes in the right direction. But some people still surprises me, especially because of their good thinking, they have good ideas, they are trend setters. My boss has changed the name of a radio show which will be coming every month end on most radio stations we work with. At first he suggested the Farme...

Rex Chapota - Farm Radio Trust Executive Director Folks, Civil Society Agriculture Network (CISANET) is not just another NGO in Malawi. CISANET is a policy advocacy organisation, working on agriculture and food security policy issues affecting not only the smallholder farmers but generally the poor people and their livelihoods.  Read more about CISANET here   My boss is digital, he has digital vision, sometimes we talk digital language when with me, that's when we are talking about our work at Farm Radio Trust . I think about my work every second, I think about new innovation, I think about a new approach. My boss thinks what I think, in other words he thinks my job. My task is to actualize what he thinks My boss is my mentor, I have had many mentors but he is an on-job mentor. Just the way he thinks, motivates me. Now my boss sits as the Board Chairperson for this organization, and he has a lot to do especially in this country where economy is agri-driven. I ...