Introduction from the editor: Rise Against Hunger’s Global Impact team works alongside our in-country partners to develop and implement holistic food insecurity programs that strengthen nutrition, education and economic empowerment — all designed around each community’s unique needs and circumstances. One of the most rewarding parts of these collaborations is seeing our project participants “graduate,” carrying forward their new skills and resources to build community resiliency for decades to come. Hear from Charlotte Navarro, our Senior Programs Manager, who shared her reflections on her recent trip to Malawi to see the impact of our Harvesting Prosperity and Resilience project, implemented alongside the Foundation for Community Support Services (FOCUS).
In 2025, I traveled to Malawi as part of the Harvesting Prosperity and Resilience project, and it remains one of those visits that fundamentally reshaped how I think about impact. We moved across the towns of Mzimba and Karonga, spending long days with farmers, women’s groups and community leaders, listening, observing and learning. What stood out immediately was that Harvesting Prosperity and Resilience was not a project being delivered to communities; it was one being driven by them.
I remember standing in fields where farmers demonstrated climate-smart agriculture practices they had adopted over multiple seasons — not because they were told to, but because they had seen the results themselves. We sat with women who proudly shared how savings groups had changed their ability to plan, invest and support their households. We watched cooking demonstrations during which nutrition knowledge was no longer theory but practice, visible in the diversity of food on display and the confidence of those leading the sessions.
What we saw represents a real shift taking place. Households that once struggled to produce enough food are beginning to meet their needs and even generate surplus. Farming practices are improving, not in isolation, but as part of a broader system that connects productivity, nutrition and income. Diets are becoming more diverse, and families are making more informed choices about what they grow, cook and consume. Savings and loan groups are giving people, especially women, the ability to plan ahead, invest and respond to shocks with more confidence.
But beyond all of this, what stayed with me most is the sense of ownership. Farmers teaching other farmers. Communities managing livestock pass on systems. Local structures continuing to function with minimal external support. There is a clear shift from dependency to agency, from participation to leadership.
This video captures pieces of this story, but being there in person made it even clearer. Real resilience is not built through short-term inputs, but through systems that communities understand, own and sustain.
As this chapter comes to a close, I am reminded that impact is not just about reaching numerical targets. It is about shifting mindsets, strengthening systems and creating pathways through which communities can continue to progress — long after the project ends.
Learn more about our impact model and the focus areas that drive our work to end hunger in communities around the world. And if you’re inspired to help drive sustainable solutions to food insecurity like the Harvesting Prosperity and Resilience project, give today.
