FOMO How to Help
UK Charity No 1090727 Malawi Charity No CONGOMA C159/2003 & NGO/R/05/08

FOMO's Core and Development Objectives 2008

Link	Description
	Introduction
	Donate on a regular basis and secure a future for the children
	ChildPacks
	Volunteering
Core Objectives Requiring Funding
	Aim
	Core Objective 1 - Food Programme
	Core Objective 2 - School Fees
	Core Objective 3 - Centre Running Costs
Development Objectives Requiring Funding
	Objective 1 - Blankets
	Objective 2 - Health Care
	Objective 3 - Skills Centre
	Objective 4 - Electricity
	Objective 5 - Maize Mill
	Objective 6 - Farm and Market Gardens (Tractor etc)
	Objective 7 - Container 2008
	Objective 8 - Boreholes
	Objective 9 - FOMO Centre
	Objective 10 - Centre Utilities
	Objective 11 - Activity Area
	Objective 12 - Security Wall
	Objective 13 - Chickens
	Objective 14 - Village Outlets
	Objective 15 - Transport UK
	Objective 16 - Rocket Stoves
	Objective 17 - Mosquito Nets
	Objective 18 - Water Tanks

Introduction

Introduction: FOMO is a community-based programme and has a long-term aim, to make the FOMO Mulanje self-sufficient. The ultimate aim is for FOMO Mulanje to be in a position to meet the needs of the orphaned children and local community.

Our first priority, always, is to identify and feed the orphaned children most in need. From this base we can then attend to the children's individual needs in respect to Food Security, Health Care, Educational Needs, Economic Propects and Emotional Care.

Since the year 2000 the number of children attending the FOMO centres has risen from 20 to over 4000. With this increase in numbers it has been necessary to start to build an infrastructure and FOMO has opened 10 centres in Mulanje district, Malawi. The centres embrass about 70 rural villages and though the centre facilities vary, the aim at each centre is to build a structure to support FOMO's activities:

• Feeding Programme.
• Provision of Information (AIDS/HIV, Health, Legal).
• Promote Personal Health Care.
• Promote Activity (Sport, Plays, Art, Music,Youth Group etc.).
• Promote Learning (Play schools, & Open Learning , Formal and Informal Education).
• Promote Life Skills.
• Promote Task Based Skills (Formal and Informal Skills learning).
• Promote Business Entrprises.

The centres also act as a meeting point for the children and a distribution centre for FOMO, i.e. blankets, mosquito nets, clothes, toys and activity equipment. FOMO also supports the children with health care, school fees and materials.

To fulfil our commitment to the children and further all FOMO objectives it is planned to raise funds to undertake objectives. The plan will be reviewed continually and modified if the levels of donations don't meet expectations and/or the children's needs change.

Many thanks for your interest and I hope that these few pages on the web site inspire you to join us in helping the children.

Keith Woodworth, Co Founder and Secretary for FOMO UK

Core Objectives 2008 Requiring Funding

FOMO's Core Objectives Aim

• To further all aspects of FOMO's stated aims i.e. Nutrition, Health, Education and Self-sufficiency.

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Core Objective 1 - Food Programme (estimated cost £13,000)

There is still a continuing need to provide extra food for the children to relieve their suffering. The support FOMO provides also helps to ease the burden born by the grandmothers and guardians, who, are faced with the additional burden of supporting members of their extended family, following the death of their children and/or relations.

• To maintain the current food programme:
• The children at the following centres to be fed 6 times a week: Kumwamba, Gulumba - Kadewele - Nansomba - Mikoko - Mwamadi - Namijingo - Tambala

• The children attending play schools, at all ten centres are fed daily with a specially enriched locally made food supplement.

• FOMO reaffirms its commitment to feed the children as a priority and to monitor the children's needs throughout the year. All other programmes will be suspended if there is a further food crisis in Mulanje.

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Core Objective 2 - School Fees (Estimated cost £20,000)

• To maintain and expand the children's educational support programme. (Presently we pay for 189 children to attend secondary school)

Education is the way-out of the poverty trap, not all will go on to have paid employment, but the skills and knowledge gained at school will help produce better use of land and resources, bigger and more diverse produce and a building block for future generations. We need your help to fund the existing school fees and provide additional funds so more children can attend school. For a £100 / $200 you can help send a child to school and change a life.

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Core Objective 3 - Centre Running Costs (Estimated cost £15,000)

• FOMO Mulanje running costs (electricity, water, fuel, wages, centre running costs, food delivery, emergency health care, car, tax and insurance, etc.)

FOMO like any family has running costs, they are not high, less than a £15,000 per centre per year, but they are essential to the running of the programmes. If you can help by donating on a regular basis then as a family we can budget for the essentials. Get a friend to help as well.

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Development Objectives Requiring Funding

Development Objective 1 - Blankets (Estimated cost £8.00 each or £24,000 for 3000 Blankets)

Benefits

Provides Humanitarian Aid and Improved Health

• Project - To provide all children attending FOMO with blankets. (More than 3000 children)

FOMO were in 2005 able to give ever child, (all 3000) a blanket due to the the kind and generous donation of single donation. we still need more blankets due to the ever increasing number of children FOMO is caring for, if you can help it will make a difference.

FOMO in the past has provided some of the children with blankets, but it is our intention and desire to meet the needs of all the children by providing them with a blanket each. Many people think that Africa is hot, but due to the proximity of the mountain the temperature can drop quite dramatically for long periods. The children's sleeping arrangements are normally very poor, sleeping on a simple grass mat on the floor with little in the way of covering. The blankets are the first step to directly improve the children's sleeping conditions and will also help alleviate some of the many health issues associated with poor sleeping conditions.

There are other issues related to the sleeping conditions of the children, i.e. a lack of beds/sleeping platforms and the general state of the houses. If you look closely you will notice that the floors of the houses are all raised about 9" above ground level. When it rains it comes down very heavy and can go on for days at a time. The raised floor prevents the ground water entering the house directly, but with no damp course, the generally sun dried brick buildings are damp and the water creeps up the walls and through the floor. Add to this, that many of the roofs leak, (tin or grass) adding to the general misery of the household. Naively I asked where do you sleep when it rains, the answer came back that they just stand or squat. Remember this can go on for days.

Picture Left: Child asleep (late 2004) on the floor with only thin clothes.

It would be nice to provide everyone with a bed and a well-built house, but this is not a practical solution. In the most desperate cases FOMO has in the past provided new roofs and plastic sheeting for the house, but our aim is to help the children help themselves through education and health care. If you ask the children what they most want, they all say "a new blanket". We can make the dream come true and help the children sleep more comfortably.

Picture Right: Some of the children receiving blankets given out in 2004

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Development Objective 2 - FOMO Outreach Unit (FORU) (Est. cost £16,000 per year)

Benefits

Provides Humanitarian Aid - Local Employment - Education and Health Care

• Project - To assess, educate and treat the medical needs of all children attending FOMO's centres. (More than 4500 children)

Think of all the times you have been to the doctor, hospital or even your local chemist, (drug store).

Now imagine life without those facilities. Would you still be here to read this?

This is the daily life for 1000s of children in Mulanje district, Malawi.

Add to this dire situation, TB, Malaria, Bilharzia, a catalogue of childhood diseases, poor diet and living conditions and you will be starting to appreciate the perils and suffering the children endure.

FORU's primary role is to administer health care, support and health education to children registered with FOMO, (Over 4500) and children affected by HIV/Aids.

FORU's main objectives are to:

• Ensure that each of the 13 FOMO centres are capable of meeting the parental. responsibility in terms of First Aid and basic health care.
• Provide access to, and meet the costs of, professional health care via local clinics, and hopital facilities.
• Provide access to health care information.
• Provide education and counselling to the children and guardians
• Provide training in first aid and basic health care.
• Provide support for home care patiants.
• Provide access to the HIV/Aids treament programme
• Provide accomodation for HIV/Aids children during the drug stabalisation period.

You can help to alleviate the suffering by donating funds or your medical expertise to the programme.

Please see the FORU document, for further information or contact me

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Development Objective 3 - Skills Centre (Estimated cost £90,000)

Benefits

Provides Educational Development - Local Employment - Possible Income Generating, (but not the main aim)

• Project - To build and maintain a Educational Unit, including Tailoring, computer school, Driving school and Internet cafe and eventually Motor vehicle, work working,

At present we have a Internet cafe, Tailoring, Computer and Driving schools which have been running for some time at vaious locations, the purpose of the the centre is to bring the existing activies under one roof. We further wish to expand the skills offered to the children with Motor vehicle and work working workshops. With the addition of FOMO office facilies and room for expansion we feel that this is the most cost effective way to offer the children some basic skills. A site has been aquired in the heart of Chitikali trading centre offering easy access for most of the children. Additional basic facilities will be located at each of the centres as each centre is developed.

The various modules in the project will be constructed as and when funds become available, but it is envisaged that in 2007 the Tailoring centre and office will be completed.

Tailoring Centre: The project is to build a Tailoring Education facility at Chitikale. Older children, (but not exclusively) at FOMO's are able to use the existing machines, very kindly donated from all parts of the UK, but space and access time is limited. The new facility would allow machines to be used more effectively, providing greater benefit to the children. A new facility would also allow children to come from the other centres thereby spreading the skill and knowledge out into the villages. The children do and will learn basic sewing and machine skills with a view to producing clothing suitable for the home and school, With your help we can expand the programme and help the children provide for themselves, some may even take tailoring up as a trade. (Note we have secured funding for this part of the prroject but still need help with other parts of the facility)

Picture Top Left: Hard at work in the existing rented centre

• Project Requiring Funding- To build and maintain an educational units at Chitikali FOMO centre..

Though primary education is free in Malawi, secondary education is not and to make things worse there are only a very limited number of places in the government schools. FOMO with your donations pays for some of the children to attend either the Government school or a private school if they pass at primary level but are not selected. This unfortunately leaves a lot of children with only a basic primary education, with no chance of attending trade schools or other educational facilities. FOMO encourages all children to attend school, and provides, school fees, uniforms, shoes (compulsory at secondary school), pencils and notebooks whenever funds are available.

FOMO would like all children to receive a formal education and go on to the Unversity, Tech school or Trade schools, but the reality is that there are not enough places or funding. FOMO can only do its bit, until the economy of the country improves significantly. To this end we have started computer, reading and machine sewing classes with the rabbit, gardening and chicken projects we are exposing the children through informal learning to improve their lives, but we would like to expand the skills we offer by opening an educational workshop unit in the heart of the rural community, which would teach trade skills. The facility would also act as a maintenance and facility improvement unit for the centres. Now, for you who are thinking we are starting a sweat shop and exploiting the children, I can assure you that the term children actually covers children from 2 to their early twenties. As with most thinks in Malawi nothing is as straightforward as it first appears. Children can start formal school from 5 upward I am not aware of an upper limit. This does mean we have children as old as 18 that are still in primary school. They may be as old as 23/4 if they complete secondary school. The educational unit will be helping these older children.

Pictures Artist’s impression of buildings

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Development Objective 4 - Electricity (Estimated cost £3,500 + £5000 for local transformer)

Benefits

Provides Improved Facilities - Local Employment

• Project - To install electricity at the Kadewere FOMO centre

At present FOMO only have electricity at the main centre at Kumwamba village. Though we have an almost equally impressive building under construction at Kadewere village there is no local electricity. The main supply is quite close, but to bring electricity to the centre would mean paying for a transformer, poles and cables etc. The provision of electric power to the centre would bring great benefit, and by paying for the set-up cost of the transformer etc. would allow the local village to benefit from the resource, (I know they are eagerly awaiting FOMO to provide the transformer which even collectively is way-beyond their means.)

The power would allow the centre to be fully operational, provide improved facilities and allow for expansion of services to the community and children. The project would also give access to electricity to the local community for the first time, promoting rural development, health education through radio and generally improve their quality of life. It gets dark between 6:00 o'clock and 6:30 everyday; even an electric light would provide great benefit.

Picture: New FOMO centre at Kadewere under construction (late 2004) now fully open, but still needs electricity Can you help?

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Development Objective 5 - Maize Mill (Estimated cost £11,000 per Maize Mill)

Benefits

Provides Local Service and Employment - Income Generating

• Project - To install and build a Maize Mill facility at the Kadewere (assuming Objective 4 is met for Kadewere) and Gulumba FOMO centres.

One of FOMO's long-term objectives is to enable FOMO Mulanje to have some financial independence to enable them to meet immediate needs of the community, and provide local income and employment.

Though there are few enterprises that have not been exploited to some small extent. Maize Mills are a vital part of the lives of a community, which relies mostly on subsistent farming. The cost of a Maize Mill, is beyond the means of the community, individually or collectively. This often means that the people, quite often children, have to walk a considerable distance to have the staple food maize, dehusked and milled. Only small amounts of maize are ground at a time due to the need to preserve it through the year. This means that the journey to and from the mill is almost a daily chore for the children, giving little time for play or homework. The alternative is to, pound the maize in the traditional way, which is not only time consuming, but is very hard work, leaving little energy or time for anything else.

Picture Right Existing FOMO Maize Mill

FOMO has built and operated one mill for over a year, but FOMO would like to purchase a series of Maize Mills, which will benefit the orphans, local community, and FOMO Mulanje as follows:

The new mill will provide

• Local employment.
• Some income for FOMO Mulanje.
• The local community with easy access to a milling facility. Saving time and effort.
• (The nearest mill is over 3 miles away, walking, or ‘footing it’ as the locals say)
• FOMO with free milling, food for the orphans.
• The children with additional free time to be children and reduce their daily burden.

Picture Below: Plan for additional Maize Mills

Picture Below: Existing FOMO Maize Mill

Picture above: Existing FOMO dehusker

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Development Objective 6 - Farm and Market Gardens (Estimated cost £20,000)

Benefits

Provides better access for food production, Education resourse, Local Employment, Transport

• Project - To develop the farm and market garden we need to invest in agriculture machines. The tractor and trailer when not on food production will be used to transport food, goods and materials to the 10 centres.

  • To provide agriculture machines
• Tractor
• Two furrow plough (manual)
• Disc harrow
• Trailer

FOMO was very kindly given a small plot of land, to develop as a farm and local FOMO centre. The land has a number of buildings, one of which has been demarcated into rooms for a store, play school, kitchen, rabbitory, and a section to house the goats at night. In addition a borehole has been dug and pump installed.

The farm has produced two small crops, one of maize and one of chickpeas. From this small, but important start the plan is to develop the land and building as a FOMO centre and farm. A ten-point plan was laid out, but to move it on we need funding, mainly for additional land, stock, seed, fertiliser, labour and tools.

• The tractor is ideal for this work as it is able to navigate the country tracks during the rainy season.

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Development Objective 7 - Container (Estimated cost £6,000)

Benefits

Provides support for FOMO's activities and development

• To send a 40ft container from the UK filled with items either too expensive or unobtainable in Malawi. The items range from child packs and play ground toys to new clothing and generators all of which will help to further FOMO’s activities in Mulanje.

If you can help by financing the container's shipping costs, it would be appreciated.

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Development Objective 8 - Boreholes (Estimated cost £1,000)

Benefits

Provides improved access to clean water (Social, Education and Health benefits)

It goes without saying, but I will anyway, clean water is essentail to a healthy life. Easy access is an added bonus, in 2006 we were able to fund two boreholes and repaired several other, but more are needed which will not only help the local comunity, but also help the children directly, as in many cases its they who have to walk a considerable distance to get the water.

Picture: New borehole being fitted at Kumwamba

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Development Objective 9 - FOMO Centre

(Estimated cost £35,000 per building)

Benefits

Provides Improved or Establish Basic Facilities - Local Services and Employment - Education Development

Exiting Centers Completed: Kumwamba (Completed 2003), Kadewere (Completed 2005), Mwamadi (Completed 2006), and. Tambala (Completed 2007) Namijingo under construction 2008

• New Projects - To build identical facilities at Galumba, Mikoko, Mangani and Chole villages, (The buildings will consist of a hall, office, store, kitchen & toilets. The building will act as a meeting and feeding centre for the growing number of children, some centres have over 400 children. The buildings will also facilitate the existing play school programme, and learning activities)

Picture Above: Artist's impression of additional FOMO centre building

In many parts of the world we have community halls, which are or have been the hub of the village activities. In rural Malawi no such building exists, life is about making it to the next day. The building we have already provided at Kumwamba village is providing a valuable service to the children, not just in the immediate village, but also from many villages close by. Kadewele will be the next to open and we already have over a hundred children wishing to attend pre-school, not forgetting the 400 older children we feed and care for at the moment. Many of the older children walk over five miles to the main centre to use the facilities there, computers, library etc. To make the facilities available to everyone we need a purpose-built building that can be adapted to meet changing needs.

The building is a major investment, but one we have experienced before, we are confident that we have the support of the local community and each village has given a plot of land for a new centre. With your help and the local communities’ commitment we can provide this valuable service.

Picture Above: Front view of FOMO Tambala centre building completed June 2007

Picture Below: Plan of proposed additional FOMO centre buildings

• Picture Above: rear view.

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Development Objective 10- Centre Utilities (Estimated cost £2,500 )

Benefits

Provides Facility Improvements- Education - Local Employment

• To install flush toilets, electricity (This assumes Objective 4 is met) and a ceiling at Kadewele centre.

The centre at Kadewere is almost finished, but we would like to install a ceiling, flush toilets and electricity. The centre will function as a play school, meeting and feeding centre for the children. To fully use the centre to its full potential we need electricity,( see Objective 4), this will allow many other activities to be carried out at the centre, including computer studies, machine sewing, education through radio and DVD’s and after school activities; remember it gets dark between 6 o'clock and 6 :30 every day.

Though pit toilets are functional, the children need to move in a modern world, many may go to the towns or cities to work, some may even go abroad. Part of the children's early education is to provide them with the social skills required in a modern world and flush toilets, we all take as essential, are just a small step in the learning curve.

You may be asking of all the things, ‘why do they need a ceiling?’ The answer is simple and practical, a ceiling is both insulation of noise and heat, if you have ever been in a tinned roofed building in the heat of the day, you will know what I mean. For the centre to function throughout the day and though the seasons it is necessary to reduce the heat from the roof and the noise of the rain, which can go on for days. The simple answer is a ceiling.

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Development Objective 11 - Activity Area (Estimated cost is £700 per centre)

Benefits

Provides Facility Improvements - Education Development

• To build an outdoor Pre-school activity area. (Climbing frames, swings, seesaw etc.)

Every child likes to play and children in Mulanje are no different. What we would like to provide is an adventure playground that can be used by the local children, children attending the centre and a resource for the proposed school and under five nursery school. There is nothing like this in Mulanje and some of the materials can be found locally, but things like slides, construction bolts and safety/climbing-netting need to be purchased.

With a little bit of imagination and the use of local people to build this equipment we will be able to keep the costs down, but we will still need to provide lunch for the helpers and buy wood, fittings etc.

Picture: Children playing at Buttsbury Infant School, Essex .

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Development Objective 12 - Security Wall (Estimated cost is £8,500)

Benefits

Provides Facility Improvements, Educational Development and food production.

• Project to build a security wall around the centres at Tambala and Mwamadi

• Maybe not the most glamorous of projects, but a wall around the centre would allow us to develop other activities at the centre i.e. Chickens, vegetable garden, childrens secure play area.

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Development Objective 13 - Chickens (Estimated cost is £750 per centre)

Benefits

Provides Facility Improvements, Educational Development and food production.

• Project - To expand the chicken (layers) programme to all centres.

2006, we have chickens at two centre only 8 to go, you can help

We estimated we would need 156,000 eggs this coming year, which works out to be 1 egg per week per child, not a lot we know, but it is a start.

At 7p each it would work out to be £10,920/ $7000 a year, this of course is not sustainable so we have embarked on a Chicken & Egg programme to provide both eggs and meat for the children.

The existing project at the main centre provides eggs to the other centres rotation plan, but it is nowhere near as frequent as we would like.

The existing project needs to at least triple in size and the provision of the resource to be expanded to the other FOMO centres.

Picture: Mary, (FOMO Director ) delighted with the first batch of Day Old Chicks

This project will act as a training resource for the children and local community. The addition of an incubator will provide local access to day-old-chicks so the individuals may start their own production facility. If the production of eggs more than meets the needs of the children then any excess will be sold to cover the cost of feed and salaries.

Our aim is not to compete with local enterprise but to make the centres self-sufficient and provide a service to the local community that does not already exist locally.

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Development Objective 14 - Village Outlets (Estimated cost £20,000 + £4K per facilities)

Benefits

Provides Local Service & Employment - Rural & Educational Development - Income Generating

• Project - To establish a network of wholesale outlets in the remote villages to promote and facilitate local business enterprise and self-sufficiency. FOMO would also promote good business practices through education. (A substantial part of the initial set up cost is for a vehicle, buildings and stock.)

Shops in the true sense are almost non-existent in the remote rural areas, but there is enterprise. The problem is that to take advantage of any business opportunity the local villagers have to trek miles to the main trading centres, where without transport the provisions they can purchase are limited to what they can carry. FOMO do not wish to compete with this local enterprise, but wish to assist and encourage it by bringing the goods closer to the point of sale. There will be some running costs, (transport, stock, salaries, water etc.) but the aim is to set up a network of essentially non- profit making outlets. This will enable the local enterprises to purchase goods at competitive prices.

Project requirements:

· Transport

· Buildings

· Stock

· Staff

This is a worthwhile project, as in many countries the little-shop-down-the-road saves time and provides a lot of employment. Unlike the little-shop-down-the-road in your own country there is a certain amount of price control in Malawi. This means that the only way to break even in the outlying villages is to buy in bulk, which brings us back to the question of transport and accessibility..

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Development Objective 15 - Transport UK (Estimated cost £6,500)

Benefits

It would just make life so much easier

• As the charity expands there is a need for a second hand van in the UK. This will help with collection of goods for the container appeal and assist in transporting items to the many functions we attend. The running cost of the van will be donated by Mr. & Mrs. Woodworth.

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Development Objective 16 - Rocket Stoves (Estimated cost £100 per stove)

Benefits

Provides Local Employment - Cost saving to the environment and FOMO

• Project - to provide each of the ten centres with 2 rocket stoves.

Update August 2006- Due to another generous doantion we have now 3 more stoves making the total of eight. We still need a few more and some smaller ones to help with the cooking of the vegetables.

FOMO cooks over 13,000 meals a week in the traditional method, 3 stones and big pots; in our case very big pots. Rocket stoves are proven efficient and effective wood burners. The amount of wood saved is phenomenal. The purchase of the stoves would provide local employment and a better environment solution,virtually smoke free, coupled with an overall cost saving in fuel.

Picture Right: Large Rocket Stove produced locally in Mulanje

In addition to the savings, the use of the stoves at the centres will encourage the wider use of the stove by the local community, though individuals would not be able to afford the locally made stoves, there are many designs of the stove for home use that can be made cheaply from local materials. I am not often surprised, but I am a little disappointed that the technology has not been adopted years ago; an awareness programme is long overdue.

Picture above: Traditional method of cooking with all the problems associated with breathing in smoke.

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Development Objective 17 - Mosquito Nets (Estimated £2.50 each or cost £8,750 for 3500)

Benefits

Provides improved health care