From the 21st February to 6th March, we invite you to take part in our annual Make a Meal of It campaign. This year, our campaign runs alongside Fairtrade Fortnight 2022 a two week campaign hosted by the Fairtrade Foundation, in which individuals, schools, groups, companies and communities learn and explore our understanding of the people who farm and grow what we eat and drink, the textiles and materials we wear, often while battling exploitation, being underpaid, and the growing impacts of climate change on local environments. The recent and ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has also added significantly to these challenges.

Our Make a Meal of It campaign has shifted to specifically overlap with Fairtrade Fortnight, in a bid to help combat malnutrition, support the UNs Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 2) of Zero Hunger, as well as help encourage and foster education around the impacts of food and water security issues and ethical consumerism. We focus on the impact this has on Malawi. While no solutions are simple or straight-forward, research has confirmed that there are tangible, significant and sometimes considerable economic, social, technical, organisation and empowerment benefits to smallholder farmers and their communities in Malawi as a result of Fairtrade certification and the increase in a global ethical consumer market that purchases these products.

Fundraising Goal: This year, by taking part in the campaign, we are specifically raising funds to cover the cost of food for all community nursery schools for the financial year, a cost of £5,000. We currently have around 500 children in our schools, costing approximately 5p per meal. Just £10 will provide a meal for a child for a year.

How can I take part?: In a safe and COVID-19 friendly way, we are asking you to host a meal in support of Open Arms Malawi. Simply bake, cook, create a meal, collect a small donation (the cost of a takeaway or a meal in a restaurant), and donate the proceeds. If you belong to a school community, you can also consider asking students to bring in to school the equivalent cost of a takeaway or meal out and donate the proceeds to Open Arms. In conjunction with Fairtrade Fortnight, you can also purchase Fairtrade products from Malawi to support your efforts. You will find many in mainstream supermarkets. Some of these brands include Kilombero Rice (via Just Trading Scotland) and Mzuzu Coffee. And to top off your meal, you can even order a bottle of Malawi Gin! If making a meal is not realistic for you, please consider donating to Open Arms directly instead, spreading the word amongst your community, and encouraging others to take part.

What is Fairtrade?: The concept of Fairtrade is based simply on the principles of trading fairly. Fairtrade works with farming co-operatives, businesses, governments, farmers and workers to support principles of fairness in these global value chains, helping producers earn secure and sustainable livelihoods. Fairtrade works with FLOCERT, an independent organisation that checks that Fairtrade Standards regarding social, economic and environmental protection have been met. These are the Fairtrade symbols and logos you will see on certified products.

What does this mean for Malawi?: Malawi is currently in their annual hungry season the lean months between crop-planting in November/December and the harvest in April/May. Small-holder farming in Malawi contributes close to 60% of the countrys agricultural GDP. Most Fairtrade products from Malawi include tea, coffee, groundnuts, honey and cane sugar. These farmers battle substantial challenges, such as lack of necessary resources, technical knowledge and capacity to streamline and improve production. The instability of market access also impacts their livelihoods and food security, as well as access to basic healthcare and social services. Lack of government support, stability and investment in local infrastructure also impacts the ability of farmers to sustain their agrarian economy. Such complex issues also extend beyond the production line for example, most Malawians still depend on firewood and charcoal energy for cooking. Illegal charcoal production and trading severely threaten the forests and woodlands of Malawi, and firewood gathering is contributing heavily to deforestation across the country. Fairtrade Africa, alongside local cooperatives such as the Phata Sugarcane Outgrowers Cooperative, have sought to combat this growing problem by creating sustainable planted wood-lots from areas unsuitable for growing sugarcane, supporting the use of felled timber for community building materials, the production of sustainable charcoal, and the protection of indigenous trees. This example of sustainable energy production in Malawi through the support of Fairtrade helps to show the importance of collaborative, community-based ways of thinking.

Food insecurity in Malawi is still a predominant issue. With over 2.8 million Malawians going hungry, children are still hit the hardest, with over 54% facing malnutrition and life-long consequences, such as stunted growth. Climate change and drought have become some of Malawi's greatest threats, with the lack of winter rains unable to support the growth of Maize, which accounts for over 70% of the population's diet. Other impacts during the hungry season include inflation of the cost of food, environmental damage to crops and livestock, a rise in hunger-related diseases, bursts of flooding that allow malaria to thrive in stagnant water, and economic fragility. In 2022, they also face the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

With these challenges in mind, there is no better or more important time to think about those in less resilient circumstances to our own. While we are united in facing a global pandemic and the effects of climate change, huge disparities in how we can cope with such threats still exist. Now, more than ever, global united action is required to support those who face increasingly overwhelming and consistent threats to being able to live healthy, secure, and successful lives. As global citizens, these challenges are shared.