Community Development through Education Programs: Evidence from Dzama Village, Malawi

This thesis seeks to examine the relationship among participatory development, community empowerment, and sustainability in the context of the Dzama Village, which is located outside of Lilongwe, Malawi. I explore the merits of participatory programs and find that they promote community development through education at Dzama. I begin by discussing development theories and find that development approaches should transition away from traditional, universal ones to focus instead on participatory, local, and culturally relevant practices. I then apply these theories to analyze two of UNC Project-Malawi’s programs: the Dzama Preschool and Ufulu Women’s Academy. I analyze the Dzama Preschool through Ladson-Billings’ three domains of culturally relevant pedagogy: academic success, cultural competence, and sociopolitical competence (1995). The Dzama Preschool provides free pre-primary education and nutrition to up to 300 students in only two classrooms. Conversations with experts, aggregate test results, and my observations reveal that the Preschool is positively affecting the community, but its educational impact could be enhanced through additional project-based learning, individualized teacher-student interactions, and learning materials. I then examine the Ufulu Women’s Academy, which provides free English, empowerment, and financial literacy classes to Dzama women. I analyze the Academy against its three goals, which the women developed in a participatory workshop. The three goals of Ufulu are 1) women’s academics: to be confident in pursuing goals like business, 2) children and family impact: to be able to support their children’s education because they have seen the benefits of school, and 3) personal empowerment and finance: to be courageous in life due to personal growth and community. I find that the Academy increased students’ confidence, English proficiency, and motivation to pursue future academic and financial opportunities. Nevertheless, Ufulu’s impact could be strengthened by providing students access to financial resources such as microcredit. Ultimately, Dzama’s programs are creating community-level, holistic change in preschool education and women’s empowerment. The programs could be scaled in similar contexts, though community participation should be prioritized.