CYD and MSA Sign a Memorandum of Understanding

On September 22, at 10:00 PM in Seattle, Washington and September 23, 7:00 AM in Mzuzu, Malawi, both the Centre for Youth and Development (CYD) and Malawi Seattle Association (MSA) met virtually to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the organizations.

Both the CYD and MSA have congruent goals and strives to promote education in Malawi through fundraising and improving education outcomes. The MSA has been running the Malawi Schools Supplies Project, by fundraising in Seattle, Washington and sending the funds to Malawi for procurement of schools supplies, concentrating on books. The CYD has been implementing an array of interventions to improve education outcomes for learners in Malawi.

The CYD and MSA have agreed on a collaborative partnership to jointly plan and execute projects in Malawi by the MSA fundraising for the projects in Seattle, Washington and by the Centre for Youth and Development implementing those projects in Malawi. Specifically, both organizations are collaborating together to execute projects that contribute to the improvement of education outcomes by leveraging on Information and Communication Technologies.

Computers are revolutionizing the education sector across the globe, from addressing challenges of low teacher to student ratios, to the low textbooks to students’ ratios, which consequently affects school completion rates and the overall education outcomes for students in Malawi. The MOU establishes the terms and understanding between the CYD and MSA to facilitate collaborative activities that are mutually beneficial for both organizations. The MOU also helps to objectify the structure of relationships between the CYD and MSA and regulates activities and interactions among the partnership’s team members to effectively and qualitatively complete projects in a timely manner. 

The Executive Director of the Centre for Youth and Development, James Gondwe, thanked the MSA for their partnership by saying 

“Thank you to all members of the Malawi Seattle Association for the passion demonstrated of wanting to make a difference in the lives of children, youth and women in Malawi. This partnership is a great opportunity for both organizations to achieve a lot together, including improving access to education by using Information and Communication Technology (ICT)”.

James Gondwe, Executive Director of Centre for Youth and Development.

The President of the Malawi Seattle Association, Jayson Nyasulu, highlighted the benefits the collaborative partnership presents, saying; 

“This partnership between CYD and MSA has multiple benefits and objectives that can be achieved including but not limited to increased funding for projects, attracting in-kind donations, expanding donor base, increase brand recognition, and physical sponsorship…we will also leverage the capacity of the CYD team to deliver projects on the ground in Malawi and the MSA team to engage donors in Seattle”.

Jayson Nyasulu, President of the Malawi Seattle Association

The CYD and MSA are both enthusiastic about the joint partnership, which will strengthen and advance the interests and activities of each organization, to work together to continue to implement interventions that improve education outcomes for better education outcomes in Malawi.