The Malawi Creation Care Network (MCCN) was formed in 2018 to mobilise and equip churches and communities in creation care work across their local contexts in Malawi. The network includes Tearfund Malawi, alongside other Tearfund movement building allies such as the Eagles Relief and Development Programme, Youth Progressive Environmental Solutions, and Kasungu Teachers Training College.
The network campaigns for stronger environmental policies from Malawi’s government, including action on reforestation and single-use plastics. In addition, MCCN has helped to plant over five million trees across the country, using the programme as a powerful way of engaging the church in creation care.
“If a parish has land, they can use that to plant trees, to make sure that within five or six years, they can start harvesting the trees into timber. What we want is a church to be able to generate income, but also to conserve the environment.” Charles Bakolo.
MCCN connected with Renew Our World in 2019, as the network got more involved with public advocacy work. Partnering with MCCN on a campaign against thin plastic production in Malawi, Renew Our World supported the network as it organised protests across the country, while assisting with the recruitment of a lawyer to help bring the case to national courts.
In 2019, the Malawi High Court banned the use of thin plastics. This was a huge victory for MCCN, but there are still many more battles that the network hopes to win in the future. It continues to organise marches to raise awareness about the country’s waste pollution, while also holding the government to account in enforcing the new laws on thin plastics.
You can find out more information about MCCN at its Facebook page here.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100076279476943&mibextid=ZbWKwL
Charles Bakolo is the National Coordinator for the Malawi Creation Care Network, and the Provincial Environmental Coordinator for the Anglican province of Central Africa, overseeing the church’s work on creation care in the region, and representing Renew Our World as the campaign’s national expression for Malawi.
