Who are we

Malawi Homeless People Federation

The Malawi Homeless People’s Federation (Federation) is a grassroots network of poor communities involved in community savings programs. The Federation was established in 2003 and to date has over 50,000 members in 26 districts across Malawi. Women are central to the organization and about 80% of the members are women. The majority of members live in poor urban and rural communities and their incomes are below the national poverty level.

Community savings groups are the cornerstone of the Federation, as daily savings teaches members how to manage their finances and the importance of saving. Demonstration of savings and financial prudence in these groups enables them to access loans through a national revolving fund that is financially administered by CCODE, their technical support organization, and which is managed by the Federation members themselves.

The fund provides loans for new homes, sanitation facilities, home upgrading and small business development. As people meet weekly in the community to discuss their savings, broader issues and challenges emerge.

As a result, members of the Federation are also are involved in leading and participating in a variety of development activities in an effort to improve the well-being of their communities. The Federation is working to address lack of sanitation facilities, land and housing, access to water and income generation opportunities as well as important health challenges.

The Federation upholds the following principles:

• Community-based daily savings and weekly meetings empower poor communities with skills and knowledge that can help them advance both socially and economically.
• Women are central to development.
• Community participation is critical to ensure ownership of initiatives and sustainability.
• Community-to-community exchanges are powerful tools that enable communities to share experiences and new ideas.

Center for Community Organisation and Development

The Centre for Community Organisation and Development (CCODE) is a non profit organization founded in 2003 that believes purposeful action is needed to promote the inclusion of the poor in development. Among other things, CCODE aims at providing low cost homes and reliable water sanitation to the poor in rural and urban areas, in a bid to improve their social welfare.

CCODE works in partnership with poor communities across Malawi to improve their living conditions and well-being by providing technical expertise in housing, sanitation, water, and business development and providing political legitimacy.

CCODE also advocates for pro poor polices and works to engage stakeholders in dialogue that ultimately leads to developing and implementing solutions to meet challenges facing the urban poor.
CCODE was created specifically to support the Malawi Homeless People’s Federation (Federation), a grassroots network of poor communities involved in a community savings program.