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LATEST NEWS FROM WITHIN AYISE

AYISE Executive Director honoured by President of Malawi (click here for more on this story)

The Executive Director of AYISE, Marce Chisi, has been honoured by Bingu Wa Murtharika, President of Malawi, for service to youth development. He accepted this honour on the 6th of November in Lilongwe, at the Ministry of Youth. Marcel is very grateful that all of his hard work with AYISE over the past 15 years has been recognised, and that youth development has been recognised as an important part of Malawi's development.

AYISE receives 2nd volunteer from Canada - Karen MacSwain (click here for more on this story)

Karen, a communications and marketing professional, has come to AYISE through the World University Services of Canada, UniTerra and Leave for Change. Her skills in communications and marketing were shared with Andy Arnott and Kondwani Namagowa who are responsible for a revamping of the website, and also with the whole of the management of the organisation created a communication strategy from which AYISE can learn to communicate more effectively externally. In addition, Karen has experience and skills with some useful software packages, and so she augmented some of the I.T. training courses which was in progress at the Bangwe Youth Centre with a session on practical applications of I.T. skills to help the attendees in their search for jobs.

AYISE receives first volunteer from the South Korean National Commission for UNESCO (click here for more on this story)

Kim Yoojung arrived at AYISE in October 2010 and will remain with us for 2 years! Her remit from UNESCO is to assess the current provision of education services in the community, and to develop a plan for their improvement. She will then submit that plan to UNESCO, and if they are happy with it, they will provide funds to support Yoojung's plan. This is an exciting time for AYISE as Yoojung will be the longest volunteer ever to work with AYISE, and we hope we can provide a suitable platform for a successful project and an enjoyable Malawian experience.

AYISE receives first volunteers from Peaceworks Sweden (click here for more on this story)

These 5 volunteers, Joel Fhaner, Malin Backman, Susanna Olofsson, Julia Lindgren and Moa Hammar, are volnteering in various capacities based on their skills and interests. Their opportunities for their 6 month volunteering placements have included attending a workcamp to create a tree nursery, volunteering as teaching assistants in local schools, volunteering as assistants in local orphanages, lending labour and strategic support to local womens groups and the Centre for Conflict Management and Womens Development, and volunteering in various conservation and education/outreach projects at the local Michiru Mountain Nature Sanctuary and Majete Wildlife Park.

Complementary Basic Education project starts in Blantyre, coordinated by AYISE (click here for more on this story)

AYISE has received funding from the German international development fund, GTZ, to enable us to provide Complementary Basic Education to young people in Blantyre. In Malawi, very poor children may have to leave school before completing primary education, and as such they are hampered their whole lives. The project AYISE is running will provide free schooling, at a time which is suitable to the class (so they can continue to engage in commercial activities if necessary for their livelihoods) to young people in a selection of communities around Blantyre Urban area. The flexibility of the project is attractive to individuals, who mainly were forced to abandon education in favour of short term financial gains through working. Once they have gained this level of education, they will be in a better position to improve their livelihoods. As has been demonstrated many times, poverty does not just lead to hunger, but also makes individuals more susceptible to behaviours which will put them at risk of STIs, HIV and AIDS, prostitution, substance abuse, and violence. This in turn increases the chances of future generations also being hampered by poverty. Consequntly, the actions taken now by AYISE will have a long term benefit for generations of Malawians.

AYISE Accredited by Malawi Electoral Commission (click here for more on this story)

AYISE has been accredited by the Malawi Electoral Commission to provide Civic and Voter Education at the up coming Local Government Elections due to take place in November 2010. However, there is concern that donors do not appear to be supportive of this type of activity currently, as letters to local and international institutions have failed to yield results.

Leadership Succession on course in AYISE (click here for more on this story)

After 15 years at AYISE, Marcel Chisi has reflected that he will not be here in another 15 years. He is undertaking preparations to leave, in due course. Marcel has been spending more time with his new Marcel Chisi Foundation, which operates in his home community near Mzimba and focuses on education, agriculture and infrastructure development. The Foundation has already initiated an agricultural learning garden demonstrating modern crops and agricultural practices. At the same time the Foundation is engaged in a project which aims to conserve indigenous seeds for their unique taste and benefits. Marcel has also been spending time working for his consulting firm Foundation for Development Consultancy. Thus he has spent significant amounts of time away from the AYISE offices, leaving the remaining staff to conduct the operations in his absence, as they will have to when he moves on. The AYISE staff have been discovering the multifaceted job of management is quite a task!

AYISE receives first volunteers from European Volunteer Services (click here for more on this story)

A strategic partnership has been created between the volunteer-sending organisation, European Volunteer Services, and AYISE. This partnership has borne its first fruit when AYISE received Laura and Albertina from Belgium and Italy respectively. These two young ladies have a particular interest in improving gender equality and the status and well being of women in this Malawian community, and so they have been working very closely with the Centre for Conflict Management and Womens Development, as well as other organisations. Initially they are tasked with observing the current situation, before, in the second half of their 6 month programme, they will be tasked with initiating programmes of their own design which will work towards improving the lives of Malawian women.

AYISE Staff Movements (click here for more on this story)

Staff Member	Destination
Finance Officer	Southern Africa AIDS Trust
Child Protection Officer, Gracious	International Labour Organization
Project Officer	Land O' Lakes
Programme Officer, Peter	emigrated to the United States of America
Programme Assistant	Save the Children U.S.
Programme Assistant	Volunteers to Save the Children U.S.

Since April this year AYISE has hosted Andy Arnott and Rachel Adamson. (click here for more on this story)

Andy, with a background in environmental work in Scotland, has been assisting the Executive Director with funding proposals, providing expert input to environmental project proposals. In addition he has constructed new relationships between AYISE and other environmental organisations in Malawi, which have enabled AYISE to offer new and exciting volunteering opportunities as well as providing a stepping stone to future funding for environmental work.

Rachel's background and interests lie in assisting vulnerable people, and she has found her skills transferred well to the role of Volunteer Coordinator, where she took over the tasks which had previously been assigned to Chris Misuku, who is now needed for other projects. Rachel has excelled in her role, displaying great patience and empathy, fantastic organisational and resource mobilisation skills, and a and energy spirit which cannot be kept down

AYISE and Student Volunteers Abroad construct new buildings for orphanage (click here for more on this story)

For the 5th year in a row Glasgow University's Student Volunteers Abroad group has send a large group (14 this year) to AYISE for 10 weeks between late June and early August. The individuals volunteered in local schools and orphanages, helped run sports and other activities at the Bangwe Youth Centre, provided resources to local schools, and used their own funds to build new buildings for the BAHASI orphanage in Bangwe. This orphanage only had capacity to accept children in the mornings, whereas now, with the assistance from SVA and AYISE, they are a big step closer to being able to host orphans all day long, and even over night.