FOCUS promotes and advocates for the legality, transparency and accountability in the mining sector in Malawi. In this period, FOCUS without any donor partner support, managed to carry out some advocacy activities aimed at restoring community benefits in the mining sector in Karonga and Chitipa Districts. Key outcomes in the advocacy included but not limited to:

• dvocated for communities’ effective engagement with the mining investors through the FPIC tool {Free Prior Informed Consent} at Kasikizi Coal Mine. The result was that the communities and the investors had reached an amicable agreement for the investors to provide social services as benefits to communities around the coal mine, e.g. upgrading of their road, drilling of 2 boreholes, repairing primary school blocks and teachers houses that were affected by the mine blasts.
• Within the period under review, FOCUS managed to assist in building the capacity of the community of Ilomba in Chitipa district in mining governance. This is where Graphite is being mined by the Chinese but with immaterial benefits to the people around the mine. FOCUS facilitated again engagement between the community and the mining investors on community benefits according to the new Mining law (Mines and Minerals Act of 2019). The result was that the mining investor had agreed to enter into a Community Trust arrangement with the community so that they benefit from their God given resources.
• FOCUS has managed to lobby the new prospective mining investor, GDP Capital, in Mwabulambo coal mine to facilitate the formation of the Community Trust and support it through a 10% profit proceeds. The GDP Capital has been very cooperative and has agreed to the plan. The community is ready with the Community Trust.
• As per the new Mines and Minerals Act of 2019 (sec. 169), the large scale mining investment such as that of LOTUS, at Kayerekela Uranium is required to identify and map the 20 kilometer radius in all borders of the mine and enter into a Community Development Agreement {CDA} with the qualified communities. FOCUS had managed to engage the investor to follow the law to which the investor had obliged and consulted the qualified community on the same. On the other hand, FOCUS had raised awareness to the qualified community on the CDA. This has given the qualified community powers to be able to negotiate a better deal with the LOTUS, the new investor at Kayerekela Uranium mine

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.