Titukulane

Intervention

Titukulane is a $75M five-year USAID-funded Resilience Food Security Activity, running from 2019 to 2024. Titukulane, meaning “let’s develop together” in Chichewa, is being implemented by CARE together with partners [Emmanuel International, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), National Smallholder Farmers Association of Malawi (NASFAM), Save the Children, and WaterAid]. The Activity aims to support implementation and ensure effectiveness of the Malawi National Resilience Strategy (NRS), which is established to guide investments in agriculture, reduce impacts and improve recovery from shocks, promote household resilience, strengthen management of Malawi’s natural resources, and facilitate coordination between government institutions, civil society organizations, and development partners.

Integrated throughout the Titukulane design are three inter-related domains of change that are fundamental to the elimination of poverty and inequality:

The principles of good governance are practiced across the systems receiving support and duty-bearers at all levels are held accountable for their decisions.
Activities across the program increase household, community and systems resilience capacities.
Greater gender equality, women’s empowerment, and youth opportunities at the household, community and systems levels.

Program achievements

Titukulane delivered strong outcomes in fiscal year 2023 (FY23) across its three Purpose Areas, surpassing its Life of Award (LOA) target by 6% by reaching 540,485 individuals in 159,847 households, 172,240 of whom were youth.

The importance of Titukulane

Titukulane aims to support implementation and ensure effectiveness of the Malawi National Resilience Strategy (NRS), which is established to guide investments in agriculture, reduce impacts and improve recovery from shocks, promote household resilience, strengthen management of Malawi’s natural resources, and facilitate coordination between government institutions, civil society organizations, and development partners.

Highlighted learning briefs and resources

Failing Forward podcast: "Start at the roots: how to turn around failure"

Titukulane's progress was achieved by addressing the difficulties it faced in the years leading up to 2023. When the program was first implemented, the COVID-19 pandemic swept the world, making it extremely difficult to implement field-level activities. However, Titukulane was able to turn around its failures by starting from the roots and addressing every aspect of the program.

Listen to the episode

Titukulane Annual Results Brief FY23

Reported in this brief, Titukulane's Annual Results in Fiscal Year (FY) 2022-2023.

Variations in Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA) Practices among Titukulane participants

This assessment investigates the dynamics and impacts of variations in the practices of VSLAs among Titukulane's participants in Zomba and Mangochi districts of Malawi.

Titukulane Gender Progress Marker Monitoring Report

Titukulane implements gender transformative approaches that address key and underlying gender constraints in the areas of gender division of labor, intra-household decision-making, access to and control of income, productive resources and assets, participation, leadership in public, and access to services across all its activities. This Gender Outcome Mapping (OM) exercise was undertaken by Titukulane in May 2023 to better understand if community women, men, and male and female youth are practicing the gender and positive socio-norm behaviors promoted through the project’s activities.

Titukulane Impact Brief (2023)

A project brief sharing Titukulane's LOA impacts in Malawi as of August 2023.

Synthesizing resilience: Key insights from a technical working group meeting of Titukulane

This learning brief shares key insights from a Technical Working Group (TWG) Meeting of Titukulane focusing on Purpose 3.

From Response to Preparedness: Enhancing Community-led Disaster Risk Management for Titukulane Communities in Malawi

A policy brief on Titukulane's efforts to enhance Community-led Disaster Risk Management in its program areas.

Community-led Resource Mobilization and Early Warning Systems Process Assessment in Titukulane Program Areas

This report examines the motivation and willingness of Village Civil Protection Committees (VCPCs) and communities to mobilize resources at community level for Disaster Risk Management (DRM) in Titukulane Program Areas.

Titukulane Project Brief (2022)

A two-pager project brief highlighting the goals and objectives, domains of change, and guiding principles of CARE's Titukulane project in Malawi.

Titukulane Photo Gallery

Photos from CARE Malawi's Titukulane program covering the period of October-December 2021.

Identifying Evidence and Knowledge Gaps for Designing Development Interventions: Process Lessons from Titukulane in Malawi

Refining programs better serves program participants and improves cost effectiveness and program efficiency. In this learning brief we will explore the process of identifying evidence and knowledge gaps as experienced by CARE Malawi's Titukulane project.

Responding to COVID-19: Learning from Program Adaptation with Titukulane

This learning brief captures the experience of a large USAID-funded Resilience Food Security Activity, Titukulane, in responding to COVID-19 in Malawi. The brief includes challenges associated with the response and how Titukulane will adapt to unforeseeable shocks in its programming and implementation based on learning from the COVID-19 response.

Ethical reviews for refinement studies: A case study from Titukulane in Malawi

In this learning note, we examine the need, standards, and process of ethical review, particularly for refinement studies, by using the refinement phase of the USAID-funded Titukulane Development Food Security Activity. Using this case study, we also explain the process Titukulane used to choose which studies needed to be approved by the Institutional Review Board and which did not.

Workshop Proceedings from a Resilience Food Security Activity

This brief summarizes the events of a workshop where formative research findings revise the Theory of Change underpinning a large resilience activity in Malawi.

Read the brief