From 16 to 18 June 2025, YONECO organized a three-day review and planning meeting with district staff from Chikwawa, Mulanje, Ntcheu, and Nsanje. The session aimed to assess the progress of the Social Protection for Gender Empowerment and Resilience (SP-GEAR) project, focusing on its journey from inception to this date.
During the meeting, district teams presented their planned activities, achievements, challenges, lessons learned, and made some recommendations based on the experience they have had over the period.
The SP-GEAR project, launched in April 2024, is a three-year initiative funded by UNICEF, the European Union, and the Government of Ireland. The project, which aims to empower women and girls through social protection and economic resilience programmes, targets nine districts, including Chikwawa, Mulanje, Ntcheu, and Nsanje.
The beneficiaries of the Social Cash Transfer Programme (SCTP), who are also SLG members, have been supported to establish individual and group businesses as a way of investing towards financial independence. The long-term goal is to transform these businesses into community-based cooperatives by 2026.
As the project enters its third phase, there is a focus on tracking the changes that households are experiencing since the establishment of the SLGs.
members of staff, including Savings and Loans Group (SLG) officers, District Managers, and Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) officers, participated in the sessions.
