Annual report on Nyasaland / Colonial Office.

  • Great Britain. Colonial Office.
Date:
[1954]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report on Nyasaland / Colonial Office. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    109/170 (page 99)
    an advisory body to Government concerning policy for the area and makes recommendations on any immediate action necessary. District Welfare Committees have been formed in the Zomba, Domasi and Blantyre Districts of the Southern Province. They functioned successfully during the year and made satisfactory progress with a proposal to establish small village industries for women which would contribute towards the maintenance of such women and their families during those periods when their menfolk were away in Southern Rhodesia working. A woman social welfare officer is attached to the office of the Provincial Commissioner, Southern Province, and since 1949 she has devoted herself to the supervision and initiation of social welfare work of various kinds, though her primary w'ork has been among African women and the supervision of African community workers. During 1954 reports from the Welfare Officer indicated that the African community continued to show an increasing interest in organized social welfare, while at the same time there wras a growing awareness on the part of the European community of the need for an expansion of social welfare activities to meet the needs of a developing ur ban population. This trend evinced itself in the extension of the wrork of existing voluntary organizations, and in particular by the formation of a branch of the Rotary Club, an organization new to Nyasaland. In the same way the activities of the Save the Children’s Fund under the auspices of the Nyasaland Council of Women supported by the Nyasaland Women’s Association were extended to include direct assist¬ ance to children in Nyasaland. In the previous year under the provision of a grant made for the implementation of small social welfare projects a course was held at Domasi for voluntary women social welfare w*orkers. The instruction given on this course so impressed the husbands of some of the women students that they in turn requested that they may be allowed to attend a similar course. To cater for this enthusiasm a course for men club-leaders was held at Domasi in July. The students attending appreciated the instruction given, and though for various reasons only a few have subsequently undertaken active club work, all have benefited from a wider vision of what club organization entails. It is proposed to hold similar courses in the future with a view to disseminating information on club work and for the encouragement of potential leaders. The 16 Women’s Institutes, situated throughout the Southern Province, functioned satisfactorily during the year and improved their financial status by refunding to Government the loans received earlier for the purchase of sewing materials. Some of the Institutes have also established their own nucleus of funds for the purchase of materials in 1955.