Come Rain, Come Shine: Partners Addressing Climate Change

The southern regions of Africa have been hit hard by climate shocks in recent months, necessitating the declaration of national disasters by the governments of Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Weather extremes leading to drought, flooding, and food insecurity have devastated the area in the wake of global climatic changes with both immediate and long-term negative effects. Countries and communities have responded to these disasters in various ways, including Segal Family Foundation partners whose day-to-day work revolves around these issues. We’re highlighting the work of these organizations as we prepare for the first-ever Segal Connect gathering next month that will bring together our Southern Africa grantee partners and funder friends.

The drought, in particular, has had ripple effects on agriculture and health. As Rodney Katongo of Africa Access Water puts it, “Water changes people’s livelihoods in a short period of time, as they become food secure and income increases.” The lack thereof has been felt deeply, particularly in the rural areas of Zambia where the organization works. They had started water harvesting projects last year; their reservoir has since dried up, necessitating a shift in core programming. While the nationwide disaster has led to increased visibility of the organization’s work and that of others working with solar-powered water infrastructure, they have yet to secure climate-specific funding that would be instrumental in scaling their model. Climate grants seem to be mushrooming of late, yet one of the challenges that persist is that where these funds should be readily available in response to events, they are instead as rigid as traditional grants with much lost to overhead costs. According to BASEflow founder Muthi Nhlema, climate grants are “a cumbersome process” for which smaller organizations sometimes need to partner with larger ones who have the resources to endure the long haul. Kusini Water founder Murendeni Mafumo adds that Western funders do not seem appreciative of the African experience of climate change, which can vary from elsewhere in the world. There is a sense, he explains, that applications need to be tailored to the donor’s context rather than the reality on the ground.

This is where collaboration can be helpful: Kusini Water, which is currently responding to the flooding in South Africa with their emergency relief boxes (a trailer-mounted system of small water tanks and filtration systems), frequently swaps ideas with BASEflow working in Malawi. BASEflow is part of the Tili Limodzi Coalition—a group of Segal Family Foundation grantee partners who banded together following Cyclone Freddy last year and worked with donors like Hilton Foundation, Myriad USA, and Vitol Foundation to drive emergency funding to local organizations on the ground in Malawi. Their quick action was instrumental in addressing rapid needs assessment, food security, healthcare access, and restoring clean water services following the catastrophic flooding. Now the coalition is focusing its energies more on resilience-building over disaster response; they are looking into sustainability for infrastructure protection, which includes building boreholes that are better reinforced. Water infrastructure in Malawi is not insured: if something happens to a borehole, communities often have no choice but to wait for another charity to come and drill a fresh one. To this end, the coalition is in talks with local insurance companies to create an insurance product for the event of flooding—but, given the frequency and severity of flooding in the region, nobody wants to do it.

While the national drought disaster was declared some months ago, the impacts are really being felt now at the time when harvests would have been due. People in Malawi are worried about food to the extent of being unable to prioritize other things like management of the water systems installed by BASEflow; when money comes in, it goes to other more imminent needs. As Daniel Mwakameka of Action for Environmental Sustainability states, “It’s difficult to work with people who are hungry.” It becomes necessary to first assist with basic needs before proceeding with trainings and other interventions. Some of these interventions include teaching communities around Lake Malawi how to recover soil fertility after floods, introducing tree nurseries to counter soil erosion, and suggesting fish farming as an alternative to depleting the lake’s dwindling stock. Climate awareness and general environmental savvy is a knowledge gap in communities around the country, Mwakameka adds. His organization is thus working with Malawi’s Department of Meteorological Services to teach farmers the basics of reading temperatures and rain patterns in order to better anticipate extremes. Mwakameka points out that the nation’s social fabric has been affected by the recent disasters: it has been difficult to bring people together in the aftermath, as many were grieving their various losses and infrastructure such as roads were destroyed rendering it difficult to reach distant communities. Of climate funds Mwakameka says, “The biggest obstacle is identifying funds and convincing funders of the cause.” He is looking forward to Segal Connect for a chance to actually get to know donors outside calls for proposals. So to our philanthropy friends we say: join us in Malawi next month! Registration is still running for a few more days.