Elmwood Supports Malawian Librarian

Elmwood College in partnership with Mzuzo College in Malawi, has supported a Malawian colleague who is undertaking a Diploma in Library and Information Science, which will be taught at Mzuzo University.

Staff at Elmwood and members of the Association of Librarians in Landbased Colleges and Universities (ALLCU) raised funds to enable Malawi student, Alufeyo Manda to undertake this 2-year course, studying full-time. ALLCU unanimously supported a request from Elmwood Librarian, Christine Barclay to provide funding to help support a fellow professional in a developing country.

Funds were raised by organising a Malawi buffet lunch and prize draw, which was supported by College staff. In all £300 was raised by the College and a further £500 was donated by ALLCU.

Alufeyo and his College expressed their gratitude for the support. On successful completion of the qualification, Alufeyo will become a professional librarian, equipping him to share skills and knowledge with his fellow librarians in Malawi.

There are seven public technical colleges in Malawi who train 60,000 students, only 0.05% of Malawi’s 13 million-population access Further Education.

Mzuzu College, Malawi’s third largest college is in the Northern Region of Malawi. The College specialises in motor vehicle, carpentry, building & administration and accounting. Although few, these colleges are the key drivers of economic development in the country.

Elmwood staff have had made several trips to Malawi. They hope to continue to support the Malawian Colleges led by Elmwood Quality Manager, Gillian Pagan, and to continue to assist an orphanage for abandoned children who they have financially supported in the past.