Community Rise Organization (CRO) is a local non-governmental organization which was founded in 2004 as a Community based organization and registered with Malawi Government in 2007 under Trustees Incorporation Act with a Certificate number: TR/INC 2324. It operated as a CBO until 2013 when it changed its status to be local NGO as such it registered with CRO in 2013. After a break for some years, it started for a full swim in 2019. In 2021 it registered with NGO Regulatory Authority (NGORA) to comply with Malawi laws.
Since its inception, CRO has been committed to empowering marginalized women, youth, and children by addressing systemic barriers to education, health, economic empowerment, gender equality, and community resilience. The organization employs an integrated, community-centered approach to ensure lasting impact and sustainability in its programming.
Our Vission
A community where marginalized women and youth thrive and reach their full potential
Our Mission
To empower marginalized women, youth, and children by providing equal access to essential needs, comprehensive support services, and diverse opportunities for personal and community development.
Core Values
- Humility
- Transparency and accountability
- Inclusiveness
- Independence
- Divinity
- Equity
Target Beneficiaries and Thematic Areas
Primary Target Groups: Marginalized women, youth, children, and persons with disabilities in rural Malawi.
Approaches and Strategies
CRO employs an integrated, community-driven, and rights-based approach to programming. The organization strengthens community structures, builds local capacity, promotes advocacy, and fosters partnerships for sustainable development
Thematic Focus Areas
CRO integrates its interventions across several focus areas to maximize impact:
Education and Youth Empowerment
Supporting girls education, preventing early marriages, and promoting early childhood development.
Health and Wellbeing
Providing rehabilitation services, nutrition, and mental health support for children with disabilities
Economic Empowerment
Scaling vocational, entrepreneurship, and financial inclusion programs through Savings and Internal Lending Community groups (SILC), a revolving loan fund, and business incubation and Climate-Smart Agriculture,
Gender Equality and GBV Prevenion
Expanding GBV awareness, and community prevention mechanisms to create safer, gender-equal communities.
Our Impact to Date
Education
Under this component, we have focused on early childhood development, primary and secondary education with special emphasis on marginalized children.
Empowering Girls Through Access to Education initiative.
CRO supported 5000+ girls with school uniforms and learning materials, school fees, reusable sanitary pads, 200 school desks and chairs, train mother groups in local production of sanitary pads. Continuers.
Humanitarian Aid To People in Need
CRO supported 3 Primary Schools in Blantyre and Mulanje with 500 School Desks, Chairs, learning materials to 5 CBCCs in Blantyre and clothes to 4000 children and parents. Completed.
Early childhood development
CRO reached 1431 children in Blantyre with early childhood development interventions through 10 Community Based Child Care Centers. Continuers
Institutional Strengthening
Building CRO’s systems, staff capacity, and strategic partnerships to deliver at greater scale and sustain long-term community transformation.
Economic Empowerment
Since 2021 CRO implemented a number of projects related to this area which includes:
Women economic empowerment through vocational skills training and access to financial services
Through this project we trained 100 marginalized women including survivors of GBV single mothers in Tailoring and design, Hair Dressing, business management and access to financial services through loan revolving fund and promotion of VSL especially Savings and Internal Lending Community (SILC) methodologies. Out of this, 85% of women started their own business and others are employed by local businesses. Completed.
Skills for Change partnership program,
46 youth in Blantyre were trained in plumbing and entrepreneurship using the Street Business School curriculum in the first cohort. 62 youth are under training on the following trades: Multimedia, Computer, Food processing, plumbing and entrepreneurship. (This is ongoing program).
Women economic empowerment through vocational skills training and access to financial services
Through this project we trained 100 marginalized women including survivors of GBV single mothers in Tailoring and design, Hair Dressing, business management and access to financial services through loan revolving fund and promotion of VSL especially Savings and Internal Lending Community (SILC) methodologies. Out of this, 85% of women started their own business and others are employed by local businesses. Completed.