The U.S. Embassy today awarded approximately $103,000 (MWK 92 million) to nine organizations working in six districts across Malawi through the U.S. Ambassador’s Special Self-Help Fund, the Julia Taft Fund, and the Fiscal Transparency Innovation Fund.

U.S. Chargé d’Affaires, a.i. Jeremey Neitzke presided over the signing ceremony saying: “These three programs are some of the U.S. government’s most successful funding mechanisms. We are proud to support projects in their early phases, and we take even greater delight in seeing that communities can become self-reliant and sustain their activities independent of assistance.”

The nine grant recipients are: 1) Reach Out with Actions Organization from Dowa district; 2) Leroli Women Enterprise Group from Ntchisi district; 3) Mchere Community Based Organization (CBO) from Nsanje district; 4) Forum for Child Affairs Support (FORCAS) Foundation from Lilongwe district; 5) Chikupira CBO from Lilongwe district; 6) Kanthunkhako Women Cooperative from Mzimba district; 7) Plan International Malawi from Dowa district; 8) Purple Innovation for Women and Girls from Mzuzu City/Mzimba district; and 9) Perekesi Consultants which operates nationally.

The Small Grants Programs are designed to support community-driven development projects that address grassroots economic and social issues. The U.S. Ambassador’s Special Self-Help Fund is a flexible grass-roots assistance program that allows U.S. embassies to respond quickly to requests for small community-based development projects.  The Julia Taft Fund addresses critical unmet needs of refugees with rapid-impact projects.  And the Fiscal Transparency Innovation Grant is aimed at supporting budget transparency.