Inspire Malawi was founded in 2010 by primary school teacher, Michelle Rowe, following a life changing gap year experience teaching at Mlanda Girls Secondary School in 2003. Michelle spent seven years building relationships with various school communities and experience renovating rural facilities. She also spent time learning Chichewa and gaining a deeper understanding of Malawian culture. In partnership with the University of Bedfordshire, Michelle ran her first teacher training initiative in 2009 with CPD opportunities continuing to this day. We work in Ntcheu and Dedza Districts with a focus on rural village schools in Lizulu Zone.

With no paid staff, Inspire Malawi relies on a dedicated team of volunteers to raise awareness and funds, administrate and steer our small charity together with working in-country to complete our projects.

Our aim is to support, promote and enhance Primary and Secondary Education in the most isolated villages of Dedza and Ntcheu in the Lizulu District of Malawi. Since 2010, we have been leading groups of volunteers to the country who work hand in hand with communities to renovate and redecorate their schools. As a small charity, we are committed to raising the necessary funds for each individual project through fundraising activities, sponsorship and donations.

Each project is unique. We respond individual requests for support form Headteachers and community leaders, who contact us for a variety of reasons. Smaller projects might include the construction of a new toilet block, or redecorating of classrooms. Larger projects have seen us building from the ground up additional facilities which have included classrooms, staff rooms, libraries and storerooms. We have drilled boreholes, developed permaculture gardens and have provided free continuing professional development (CPD) courses for teachers and community leaders.

Overcrowding is a problem across Malawi, particularly in rural schools with class sizes sometimes exceeding 100 pupils. With little, if any, money available for maintenance, these schools can quickly fall into severe states of disrepair.  

Poor sanitary facilities also creates an additional hurdle for girls attending school. Menstruation can lead to absence and learning time lost. We are passionate about keeping girls in school, supporting Senior Chief Theresa Kachindamoto with her campaign to keep girls in School.

Chief Kachindamoto said, “When girls are educated, everything is possible.”

We have a number of requests each year from schools to help develop their facilities and/or resources. We work hand-in-hand with the communities we support and, following an initial site visit, will have a community meeting. This is a really important stage, during which time all Chiefs, elders and community leaders have an opportunity to share ideas. We agree on which aspects of the development the community will support (for example, labour/collection of river sand/security) and then set about gaining permission for the build and searching for a contractor.

All work undertaken in Malawi has the full support of the community, Village Elders and the Village Headman. At Inspire Malawi we strive to work with the community in developing, and then maintaining their schools. The community shows support for our work by moulding bricks, collecting river sand and water needed for the reconstructive work.