AGAINST ALL ODDS: How Ntcheu Shifters secured funding and continue to change lives

If you told me that an informal group of young people from a rural district of Malawi, with mostly secondary school qualifications, would go on to win funding within two years of campaigning, I’d say, “That’s not possible”. This can no longer be said ever since Ntcheu Shifters came onto the scene. 
 

Ntcheu Shifters is a 15-member group (below 27 years) who were part of the Mgwirizano Youth Group. Mgwirizano first emerged in 2011 from Machira village, focusing on youth and child-led advocacy within their community. When Shift engaged with this already-existing group in 2022, they were clear in their vision: “End School Drop out” - a vision that responds to their lived realities and priorities about what issue is most important to them. Shift respects this important starting point; we let young people decide what matters to them and this becomes the soil in which their passions flourish. 

During their first half year of campaigning to get children and youth back in school, Ntcheu shifters surprised local stakeholders and community (Head of Education, Ntcheu District). 

“WHAT SHIFT HAS DONE WITHIN HALF A YEAR OF CAMPAIGNING IS SOMETHING WE HAVE NEVER BEEN ABLE TO DO AS A DEPARTMENT FOR YEARS.”

(Head of Education, Ntcheu District) 

3,894 community members and stakeholders reached

117 out of 160 child dropouts have returned to school

9 child marriages dissolved

Despite being informal and unregistered, Ntcheu Shifters’ demonstrated effectiveness, passion and recognition from their community made them a formidable force. Hence, when Save the Children Italy were considering partners to help deliver their localisation goals, Ntcheu Shifters found themselves with an opportunity to continue their work beyond Shift’s project cycle. Leveraging their hard-won partnerships, including local NGOs, they drew on the existing intellectual and human resources to put together their proposal to get closer to their vision of ending school dropouts. Having won the proposal, Ntcheu Shifters will not only become registered and receive support to grow their capacities, but also continue their campaign into the third year to ensure every boy and girl in Ntcheu pursue their education further.
 

The past two years of campaigning on reducing school dropouts have impacted both the community as well as the participants themselves. While they were initially looking outward in their campaign, the process has inspired Shifters to look inward; many of them including the Chairperson and the Secretary of the group have now decided to pursue higher education.

Freza Mbalu (Chairman) is now Form 3 (lower secondary level) at Madzanje Community Day Secondary School

Esnart Thamangani (Secretary) is now Year 0 studying Community Development at Zomba Vocational Training college

Will Chitsulo & Blessings Charlie now writing Form 4 examination in July, 2024