About Kauma Village:

Kauma Village is an informal settlement within the city Lilongwe, Malawi—near where we have been working and living for the past six months as interns for the Canadian International Development Agency.

Kauma Village consists of 17 villages, each with their own Chief Headman and a Group Village Headman. The population of Kauma Village is approximately 33 000, and there are roughly 1140 orphans in the community. 

Migration to Kauma Village has been significant since the1960s when individuals from rural areas across the country have relocated to Kauma Village in search of employment and better opportunity in one of the country’s largest cities- now the capital city Lilongwe.

Since the 1970s, the percentage of urbanized populations in Africa has more than doubled, placing huge demands on city infrastructure and creating informal settlement‐like living conditions within every major city. 

In Kauma Village, few residents have claims to land and within this semi-urban environment, individuals who had once been subsistence farmers in rural areas no longer have their crops to generate food and income for their families. 

With decreased agriculture in this community and more inhabitants than employment prospects, the poverty in Kauma continues to intensify, particularly as a result of inflated food prices and commodities that has been occurring in Malawi since 2004, when prices increased by 20%. Presently, Malawi is facing a forex crisis, and the country’s inability to successfully purchase fuel has resulted in the rise of commodities once again. 

Informal settlements, such as Kauma Village present a unique environment from a public health perspective. These settlements can be characterized as having: inadequate access to safe drinking water; insufficient access to sanitation and other infrastructure; poorly structured quality of housing; issues of overcrowding; and insecure residential status.

---