In rural Malawi’s Mulanje district, pregnant women used to avoid eggs. Eating eggs, they’d been told, would curse their unborn children to be born hairless. For generations, this belief limited their consumption of essential nutrition during this most critical of development windows. It also shaped what they fed their children. As Gloria Banda, a 33-year-old mother of two, remembers, “We followed what our mothers and grandmothers taught us. We thought we were protecting our children, but we were actually denying them what they needed most."

This was not the only belief that prevented children from fully thriving. Men stayed away from pregnancy and childcare because it was culturally believed to be women's work. Limited knowledge meant that parents did not consistently take their under-5-year-olds to timely immunizations, resulting in some cases in disability cases when children missed polio and other vaccinations. Mothers relied on traditional healers and birth attendants only for delivering children and had limited understanding of family planning. Families bought essential medicine over the counter instead of at clinics and were unaware of the value of proper nutrition and early learning to childhood development.

But in 2019, when Nachikodowa CBO partnered with Firelight Foundation, things began to change. Through a community-driven systems change (CDSC) approach that engaged community members, families began questioning their long-held beliefs. The egg superstition dissipated as parents learned that eggs are a rich source of protein and choline, an essential nutrient for brain health and fetal development. Men who had never participated in childcare began talking to their unborn babies with a clear understanding of the importance of prenatal bonding.

"Now we know that it is okay to talk to the child even when it is still in the mother's womb," explains Patrick Sanderson, a male champion and member of the Tiyanjani parents care group. "Men now understand that a pregnant woman needs to rest from physical and sexual activities. And we all now know that learning starts from 0 to 6 years."

To facilitate early learning, community members came together to build two additional community-based childcare (CBCC) centres, contributing labor and local materials like bricks and sand. Nachikodowa provided cement, iron sheets, nails and lime. As a result, enrolment increased from 35 to 57 children, with 16 centres now operating in the region. Parents who once waited until children were six years old to start their education now enrol them at the CBCC centres from as early as three years old.  

They also monitor their children’s health and development. They conduct simple hearing tests using a bottle filled with sand to assess if their child's milestones are met. In just six years, from 2019 to 2025, child malnutrition cases dropped from 10% to just 0.8% and immunization coverage increased from 331 children to 612.  

The number of male champions grew from 30 to 54 members and continues to go up because of the continuous and constant knowledge sharing through exchange visits and awareness campaigns conducted by male champions working alongside the CBO and local traditional leaders.  

So that families could better provide for their children, Nachikodowa CBO helped parents establish village saving and loans (VSL) groups. Gloria received her first start-up soft loan of 40 thousand kwacha ($23 equivalent) from which she bought her stock of fish and tomatoes to sell in the local market to buy iron sheets for her family's roof. She received a second loan of 55 thousand kwacha ($31 equivalent) from which she purchased a sewing machine and now designs dresses and shorts for sale. She also contributes to her care group’s collective farming initiatives of maize, kale, green peas, pumpkins and rearing chickens.

"In the past we were in the dark,” she says, “but now we know a lot and things will continue this way."

Cycles of prosperity and health

Nachikodowa also helped communities to develop livestock pass-on programmes. They distributed 70 goats to 70 families who then passed 54 of the goats’ offspring to neighbours who were financially vulnerable, creating more cycles of prosperity.  

The CBO also facilitates monthly cooking demonstrations using local ingredients and parents show each other how to prepare nutritious meals from products that grow in their own gardens.

Today, through the community-driven systems they established, adopted and practice, children in these villages experience the confidence that comes not only from early education and quality care and nutrition, but also from families working together to make life better.  

Multiple systems including health, education, economic and social, now work in harmony because the community redesigned them from within.

It shows how sustainable systems change is born from trusting communities to identify their own needs and supporting them to create their own pathways to transformation.