The Paradiso PLHIV support group in Ngwenya, Lilongwe (Malawi) has both women and men members living with HIV. Women members of group are also 
members of the Coalition of Women Living With HIV/AIDS (COWLHA), a partner of One World Action. Community members felt the need to organise and have their voices heard because of their concern that institutions such as the National AIDS Commission were not accessible to grassroots level people, especially women. “We wanted to highlight the discrimination that we face on a daily basis and to get national policies to address our needs.”
One concrete example of discrimination is in the distribution of vital agricultural subsidies. Group members shared their experiences with One World Action's Tara Brace-John regarding fertilizer coupons that were distributed as part of the agricultural subsidies scheme of the Malawian government from 2005- 2008. Their stories paint a vivid picture of how discriminatory and unresponsive national policies and government structures can be to the most vulnerable groups such as people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV).
Fertilizer coupons were distributed through agricultural extension workers, who invariably consulted the village heads. Village heads were often aware of the HIV status of community members and some refused to distribute coupons to HIV positive persons because they were already 'half dead'. While rural people in general have had difficulty in accessing fertiliser coupons and many village heads themselves had trouble accessing the coupons, it appeared that people living with HIV/AIDS appeared to be the lowest priority in the distribution scheme. Women living with HIV were specifically discriminated against, leading to increased food insecurity for women-headed households.
Due to the discrimination faced by women living with HIV in accessing fertilizer coupons in the first round of coupon distribution in 2005, COWLHA took the issue to the President. The President promised that 2 coupons would be given to each person living with HIV in the period 2006-07. But the Office of the President failed to inform the agricultural extension workers and discrimination persisted. When COWLHA wanted to discuss and resolve the issue with concerned senior chiefs and village heads, they refused to meet with them.
For Malawi to reach the Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) initiative completion stage, the IMF and World Bank insisted that the national government remove all agricultural subsidies and privatise the state marketing board, the Agriculture and Marketing Corporation (ADMARC). This pressure was a clear contradiction to supposed basic donor principles such as ‘country ownership’ and ‘alignment with country priorities’. Under pressure from donors, the Bakili Muluzi government stopped all subsidies in 1994, resulting in widespread hunger and food insecurity in Malawi.
Agricultural subsidies became the key election mandate in the 2004 elections. 
Going against donor wishes, the new government of Bingu Mutharika announced fertilizer subsidies for 2005-2006. The government funded this initiative entirely on its own as it did not have the support of donors. Due to relatively effective distribution of the coupons and good and timely rains, Malawi had a bumper harvest and food insecurity was significantly reduced across the country. DFID and other donors then realised the difference that agricultural subsidies could play in countries such as Malawi and decided to roll out an extensive programme for the following year (2006-2007).
This year, however, the fertilizer coupon distribution has been delayed to such an extent that it is too late now to use the fertilizer and for it to have any effect. The irony of the situation is local people have seen loads of undistributed coupons being dumped in ‘six miles’, a dumping ground very close to Ngwenya where Paradiso support group members live!
ADMARC has been re-nationalised but has not been able to deal with the present food shortage in the villages allegedly because buffer stocks have been sold to Zimbabwe. A small bucket of maize is being sold for MK 600 by local traders and people in the villages cannot afford the prices. People are managing on a meal a day and waiting for the harvest period which does not look promising. Women and particularly PLHIV face hunger unless the government of Malawi can do something soon to address the issue.
The Paradiso support group and COWLHA have two concrete suggestions to make to the government and to donors:
- That fertilizer coupons be reserved for PLHIV (2 per person)
- That these coupons be given to community-based organisations such as Paradiso or COWLHA to distribute in a just manner to PLHIV
One World Action and partners COWLHA (Coalition of Women Living with HIV/AIDS) and MANET+ forwarded a joint submission on this issue to the International Development Committee at the British parliament. To see a copy of the submission, please click here.
By , Governance Policy Programme Co-ordinator