FOCUSmalawi

FOUNDATION FOR COMMUNITY SUPPORT SERVICES(FOCUS)

"Hope For the Rural Communities"

FOUNDATION FOR COMMUNITY SUPPORT SERVICES(FOCUS)

"Hope For the Rural Communities"

FOUNDATION FOR COMMUNITY SUPPORT SERVICES(FOCUS)

"Hope For the Rural Communities"

WHO WE ARE

Foundation for Community Support Services (FOCUS) is a non-governmental organization that was formed in January 2000. It was initially established to tackle reproductive health issues affecting the youth (boys and girls), women and other vulnerable groups such as commercial sex workers. FOCUS got registered with the Trustees Incorporation Act (1962) in September 2001, with the National Youth Council of Malawi under the National Youth Council Act of 1996 in 2005 and with the NGO Board in September, 2007. FOCUS is a paid-up member of the Council for NGOs in Malawi (CONGOMA), Malawi Network of AIDS Service Organisations (MANASO) and the NGO Board; an executive member of Karonga NGO Network (KANGONE) and a founding member of the Forum for Non-Governmental Organisations in Youth Development (FONYODE). Currently FOCUS is the acting chair of Karonga District AIDS Coordinating Committee (DACC), deputy chair for FONYODE and also serves as the deputy chair of CONGOMA.

FOCUS envisages a self-reliant and healthy community with improved quality of life that is aware and able to demand for information and services. It is committed towards facilitating, advocating and implementing programmes in Disaster Risk Reduction and Management; Community Health and HIV/AIDS; Sustainable Livelihoods; Good Governance; Human Rights; Youth Development and Gender and Women Empowerment targeting vulnerable Malawian communities. READ MORE

WHERE WE WORK

FOCUS currently has running project in Karonga, Chitipa, Nkhata Bay, Mzimba and Balaka Districts.

Approach

FOCUS focuses on the empowerment of rural communities in Malawi. It is unique in its perception of development and methodologies used to attain its goals. FOCUS’ development approach and methodology are founded on Participatory Learning Action. It believes in and uses the Participatory Community Competence Building Methodology that empowers communities to take charge of their own developmental initiatives. This methodology critically looks at the following three major building blocks: