Walking up a steep hill, I arrive at a beautiful green bell pepper and tomato plot. It's early in the morning and the breeze is blowing from north to south. Continuing, I find Ermis Ramos cutting away excess leaves around the green bell peppers. He explains that by removing some of the leaves, the pepper will have more space to grow to full size. Ermis says, “I have learned new practices and techniques that were unknown to me, this new knowledge is priceless to me because no one will take it away.”

A drive to Gidabagar village opens up into a beautiful scenery of hills and small rivers. Many farmers can be seen working in their farms this time of year as they are preparing for the next farming season that begins around November to January with short rains.

Ramadhani Doho (60) is one of those farmers preparing for the season. One difference between Ramadhani and the other farmers is that he is farming and harvesting all year round. This was not the case a few years back, because Ramadhani depended on seasonal farming of maize and pigeon peas for food and for sale.

Many families in central Malawi depend on tobacco as their main cash crop. The same was true for Lucy Ka-jani and her family. Lucy was quick to point out the years she spent on tobacco farming that did not produce much change in her life. Lucy is a mother of 6 but was widowed 3 years ago. “We used to invest much in tobacco, but the dividends were not as satisfactory. We used to grow tobacco out of routine since we had no tangible alternative. This practice was deeply entrenched in us,” explains Lucy. Lucy shared that there were times after taking out loans for investing into tobacco farming, when they could not realize profits.

Bernard and his wife on their farm

In the Mpika Area Program of northern Zambia, World Vision is hard at work. Farmers have been introduced to the Economic Empowerment program called THRIVE—Transforming Household Resilience in Vulnerable Environments. It is a proven model for economic transformation and for altering world views that perpetuate poverty.

Witness was widowed some years ago. In her early 60’s, she had to endure the burden of taking care of 7 grandchildren because their parents (her two elderly children) trekked to South Africa in search of greener pastures. As such, she single-handedly took over the responsibility of looking after the grandchildren with little support from their biological parents in South Africa. Her adult children held only menial jobs and sending support back home is difficult due to legal constraints.

For Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSME) Day 2019, Chris Rowlands, VisionFund International’s Director of Small and Growing Business (SGB) shares how the right financial support and business coaching helps unlock growth opportunities for entrepreneurs and creates critically important jobs for low-income women, men and youth.