Malawi - Enhancing Climate-Adapted Agricultural Productivity Through Improved Water Management (CAWMA)

The Climate Adapted Water Management for Agricultural Productivity Improvement Project (CAWMA) is a climate resilience and agricultural recovery project in Malawi designed to restore cyclone-damaged agricultural and water infrastructure and strengthen climate-resilient livelihoods. Financed through the African Development Fund Climate Action Window, the project targets the districts of Phalombe and Thyolo, which were severely affected by Cyclone Freddy. It combines the rehabilitation of climate-resilient irrigation and WASH infrastructure, support to climate-smart agricultural production and commercialization, watershed restoration, institutional strengthening, and project management. The project will rehabilitate key irrigation schemes, access roads, water supply and sanitation facilities, promote climate-smart agriculture and seed multiplication, support structured market access, strengthen nutrition-sensitive interventions, and restore degraded watersheds using nature-based solutions. The total project cost is estimated at UA 10.6 million (about USD 14.41 million), financed by an ADF Climate Action Window grant of UA 6.25 million, with co-financing from FAO in cash and in kind, the IFAD, UNOPS, and an in-kind Government contribution. The executing agency is the FAO.