Empowering households through joint planning and decision-making
The story of Kaziwu Mhone
The household of Kaziwu Mhone and his wife Maness of Chijere Village, Group Village Headman Stendi, in Traditional Authority Timbiri in Nkhata Bay district, is swimming in glory, thanks to the decision he made to involve his family in planning and visioning.
Living in a predominantly matrilineal society, Mhone did not appreciate the importance of involving his wife in making decisions and planning for his household’s future. His decision, made with no regard for the welfare of his family, always stood.
Although most of the decisions he made unilaterally led to problems to his family, he never saw the need to change and start involving the family members in the decision-making processes.
“Previously I could dominate in decision-making, feeling that my wife should simply follow my directives in the household and focus on the kitchen as her office,” confirmed Mhone.
As a result, progress eluded his household as most of his decisions were driven by selfish motives. It was not surprising that the family suffered from a lack of food and other basic needs.
“We lacked direction as a family because my husband, as the head, did not provide proper leadership to the family,” said Maness, the wife.
In 2020, Programme for Rural Irrigation Development (PRIDE) introduced gender transformative approaches that eventually saw men slowly starting to embrace and change their old ways.
The gender dialogue sessions and the household approach introduced new ways of leading his family for Mhone. Joint decision-making and planning have seen the him formulating visions and planning for attainment of the same with his wife and the children.
“Joint planning has changed our perspective, fostering consultation and harmony within our household. Without joint planning and decision-making, we would not have achieved our current successes,” confessed the father of five.
His wife thanked PRIDE for teaching her and other women in the area to be resilient to any forms of abuse and stereotypes based on gender in a society with rigidly held social norms that perpetuate male dominance.
She added that the various training sessions she has undergone have seen her become an expert in modern farming, especially mixed cropping and crop rotation whilst following good agriculture practices.
Counting on the fruits of the knowledge and skills gained, Mhone’s wife said: “We were guided to envision our family’s future and document our goals for the next four years. I can proudly say that we have expanded our house from a single bedroom to four rooms. We now have 5 goats and chickens, all stemming from our vision. We consult each other on family decisions, a departure from the past where everyone pursued their agenda. I credit these achievements to PRIDE,” she Hilda.