Our Mission

SAFI, or School of Agriculture for Family Independence, is a non-profit organization based in Lilongwe, Malawi. Following a devastating famine, SAFI was started in 2002 as a sustainable solution to widespread food insecurity. Since then, SAFI has helped thousands of Malawians achieve food security and make progress across a range of other critical aspects of life. SAFI focuses on providing skills and knowledge that will help their beneficiaries make lasting change in their lives, solving problems at their root.

At the core of SAFI's mission to create self-reliant families, we focus on three main initiatives: SAFI Self-Reliance Program, Educate the Children, and Wells of Hope. Each program offers skills, resources, and knowledge to help rural Malawian's improve their families' lives.

Self-Reliance Program

SAFI’s Self-Reliance Program empowers rural Malawian families through intensive agricultural training and leadership development. The program teaches modern farming techniques, business skills, family relations, and gender equity—with the ultimate goal of increasing crop yields, income, and household stability.

On average, SAFI-trained farmers reported

Educate the Children

SAFI’s Educate the Children program focuses on paying the school fees of children and young adults in need, affording them crucial educational opportunities that they would otherwise not be able to pursue. While primary (elementary) school in Malawi is free, only about 15% of children complete secondary school due to high school fees and material costs. This number is even lower in rural areas, ranging between 2-10% completion in poor sectors (Molendijk, 2022). Every year, a huge proportion of kids are forced to drop out of school due to lack of funds.

Educate the Children is SAFI’s answer to this problem. As of now, SAFI sponsors about 250 students in total: 150 secondary school students and 100 university students all across the country. SAFI recruits students through an application process: students or their parents apply for the scholarship and applicants are selected for interviews. Students are selected based on individual need and potential for success. Depending on the circumstances, SAFI pays for tuition, accommodations, health-care costs, and food. On average, $89 educates a secondary school student for an entire year. For a university student, the annual cost is $492 USD.

Read the incredible story of an Educate the Children beneficiary:

Thomas, a father of four, had to drop out of university due to tuition costs—until SAFI’s scholarship program stepped in. With their support, he earned his degree in social work and began identifying vulnerable children in rural villages, helping over 100 students get access to education and healthcare. Now, he’s pursuing public health studies and plans to open a hospital for children under five—the first of its kind in Malawi.

“If SAFI didn’t support me, these kids wouldn’t have had a chance.”

Wells of Hope

SAFI’s Wells of Hope program addresses critical water access challenges in Malawi’s underserved rural communities by drilling boreholes—deep, low-maintenance wells that provide reliable, clean drinking water. Working in partnership with government agencies, SAFI identifies the regions most in need based on access, functionality, and travel time to water sources. One borehole, at an average drilling cost of $5,000 USD, serves 110 families. Boreholes drilled by SAFI continuously serve over 20,000 households.

This is a long-term fundraising campaign for SAFI's ongoing programs. Monthly donations translate to continued and lasting impact for beneficiary families, but donations of any size are greatly appreciated.

With the help of your donation, SAFI will be able to continue operating and expanding these programs, providing opportunities and poverty-relief to thousands of families across Malawi. If you would like your donation to target a specific program, let us know.

To access a complete donor report and explore resources demonstrating SAFI's impact, see the following links:

https://pjh2112.github.io/SAFI-donor-resources/

https://www.facebook.com/safimalawi.org

Disclaimer: All donations made through this GoFundMe campaign are collected by me, Parker Horn, a U.S.-based partner of SAFI.

I will personally withdraw the funds into a U.S. bank account and then transfer 100% of the received donations (minus platform fees) directly to SAFI’s leadership in Malawi. Funds are transferred via Remitly.

I do not take any personal cut or salary from these donations. All transactions are documented and reported transparently. If you have any questions or would like to see receipts, let me know.

Please note: donations to this campaign are not tax-deductible in the U.S. at this time