History
Host community and Dowa District
Also known as Dowa District, Host community
A reference entry on Dzaleka's location in Dowa District, its relationship with the surrounding Malawian host community, and the programmes that include host residents alongside refugees.
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Location
Dzaleka is in Dowa District in central Malawi, about 41 kilometres from the capital, Lilongwe. The camp occupies the grounds of a former prison and sits among the hills of the district, surrounded by Malawian villages.
The host community
The Malawian population living around the camp relies largely on subsistence farming. Aid organisations working at Dzaleka describe the surrounding area as historically underserved, with residents facing constraints such as limited farming inputs, unstable crop prices, and variable rainfall. This means the camp’s needs sit alongside those of a host population with its own poverty.
Shared programmes
Several organisations working at Dzaleka extend their programmes to host-community residents rather than serving refugees alone. There is Hope, a Malawian NGO, describes its education and livelihoods work as covering both refugees and the Dowa host community, and its social enterprise Kibébé employs people from both groups. Sports and cultural events documented elsewhere in this encyclopedia also bring the two communities together.
References
Sources
- 1
- 2
- 3There Is Hope — With refugees and the host community
There Is Hope Malawi
Related entries
Place
Dzaleka Refugee Camp
A long-established refugee settlement in Dowa District, Malawi, opened in 1994 and now home to a large, multilingual community from the Great Lakes region and the Horn of Africa.
History
Population and demography
A dated guide to population figures for Dzaleka and Malawi's refugee population, including countries of origin and why totals vary between reports.
Institution
There Is Hope Malawi
A Malawian non-profit organisation founded from Dzaleka experience that provides vocational education, enterprise support, scholarships, and other self-reliance programmes for refugees and host communities.
Infrastructure
Livelihoods and the local economy
How residents earn income through trade, services, agriculture, creative work, training, and digital labour despite restrictions on movement and formal employment.
History
History of Dzaleka
How Dzaleka developed from a camp opened in 1994 into Malawi's principal refugee settlement, including the consolidation of residents from Luwani and decades of population growth.
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