NEWEST PROJECT: Grace’s Briquette Project

Grace Mwanguti, a woman rice farmer in Karonga, Northern Malawi wants to start a business to turn the waste product from rice milling into a useful fuel for cooking. The idea is not new, but what is really different is that this will be a business run by women, for women. It will help ease the lives of women rice farmers who for generations have had the back breaking job of collecting firewood in the hills. It will help stop the denudation of the hillslopes, in itself a serious environmental and climate emergency issue. The business will also give women training in management and computing skills, and potentially more confidence in their abilities in a society where women do not traditionally have equality of opportunity with men.

The project involves building two brick sheds, providing two briquette making machines, and supporting training and running costs for the first four months of work.

This project will

• support the development of an emerging women’s business
• help make the daily lives of women less arduous
• contribute to the manufacture of inexpensive cooking fuel for families
• reduce the problems created by rotting rice husks left lying
• upskill women in this rural community
• support ongoing work against climate change by reducing deforestation

The two groups of women have been working hard on the construction of the buildings. At Kaporo which was the first to start, the building is near completion. At Lupaso the roofing timbers are now going on.

The women would like to be able to complete the buildings and purchase the briquette machines by the end of June when the rice harvest is in.

Can you help us reach our target?