WHERE WE WORK
Alliance for Children Everywhere (ACE) has been serving vulnerable children and families in Zambia since 1998. What began as a response to the needs of children in Zambia has grown into a movement focused on keeping families together. Over the years, ACE has transitioned from crisis nurseries to a family-based care model, in line with Zambia’s national care reform and global best practices. Today, ACE works across Zambia's high-risk communities to prevent family separation, reunify children with their biological families, or when reunification is not possible, find permanent, loving homes through kinship care or other family-based alternatives. ACE Zambia also empowers families through parenting classes and economic strengthening initiatives by helping caregivers build resilience and children grow up in safe, loving, and stable homes.
Zambia
Alliance for Children Everywhere began working with faith-based OVC partners in Malawi in 2020. Malawi presented a unique opportunity to work with child care institutions and build a model of family based care that prioritized reunifying children with their extended family in their village of origin. In Malawi, we found an awesome group of grassroots organizations passionate about helping children and determined to see them thrive. Working in Blantyre, ACE supported the formation and registration of the National CCI Network, building a platform for improved social work, family based care, child safeguarding, and trauma informed care.
Seeing an opportunity to impact the country at a national level, ACE began the formal process of registration in 2023, moving our office to Lilongwe, and working closely with the Ministry of Gender and USAID. We strengthened our partnership with the Association of Social Workers in Malawi (ASWIM) and the Association of Women Religious in Malawi (AWRIM). These large networks of CCIs and social workers allow ACE to promote family based care, trauma informed care, and prevention of child separation at a larger scale.
Malawi
LOCAL CONTEXT & CHALLENGES FACING FAMILIES IN ZAMBIA
Many families in Zambia face intersecting, systemic challenges that make it difficult to care for their children and build stable, resilient households. Below are some of the ongoing challenges that Zambian families face.
Poverty and Economic Instability
Zambia continues to face high poverty rates, especially among families with children. According to the World Bank, over 54% of the population lives below the national poverty line (2022).
UNICEF reports that 60% of Zambian children live in monetary poverty, and 40% live in multidimensional poverty, lacking access to essentials like clean water, education, or shelter.
Many caregivers, especially single mothers, rely on informal jobs such as market vending or domestic work, earning less than $2 per day, barely enough to feed their families, let alone cover school or health costs.
Limited Access to Education and Healthcare
While access to early education has improved, many children, especially girls, are still unable to complete their schooling due to costs, household responsibilities, or early marriage.
Nearly 3 in 10 children aged 7–14 are not in school, and only 40% complete upper secondary education (UNICEF, 2023).
In terms of healthcare, Zambia has only 1.2 physicians per 10,000 people, and rural areas remain critically underserved.
35% of children under five suffer from stunting due to chronic malnutrition, a sign of long-term food insecurity and inadequate healthcare (UNICEF, 2023).
Family Separation and Institutional Care
Economic hardship, caregiver illness, and loss of parents (often due to HIV/AIDS) are major contributors to child separation in Zambia. In the absence of support services, families may feel forced to place children in institutional care, believing it offers a better future.
Research consistently shows that children develop best in safe, loving family environments. Institutional care can lead to developmental delays, poor mental health, and attachment difficulties.
70% of children in care had living relatives willing to provide a home, if only they had the resources and support to do so.
Gender-Based Violence and its Impact on Families
Gender-based violence (GBV) remains a significant barrier to family well-being. Survivors of GBV often lack access to justice, economic support, or recovery services leaving families destabilized and children at greater risk.
According to the 2022 Zambia Demographic and Health Survey (ZDHS), 45% of women aged 15–49 have experienced physical or sexual violence from a partner.
Children living in homes affected by GBV are more likely to experience abuse, neglect, and trauma, often resulting in long-term emotional and behavioral issues.
OVERVIEW OF ACE’S GROWING WORK IN MALAWI
While Malawi is a poor country, we believe that the combination of mental health, recovery from trauma, and family economic empowerment can help build a safe, healthy, and thriving community where every child has a chance in life.
Malawi is one of the 4 poorest countries in the entire world, with a per capita income of $USD 561-602 according to the World Bank.
Malawi suffers from both drought and flooding due to climate fluctuations, with erratic food supply.
Malawi had a currency devaluation of 40% in 2024
32% of all children suffer from stunting.
Only 18% of girls attend secondary school.
30% of all babies are born to teenage girls.
30% of teenage girls are married below the legal age of consent.
Current Challenges
There are only four (4) psychologists in the country of 21 million people.
Mental health faces stigmatism due to the attribution of illness to curses, demons, or spiritual forces.
Many individuals with treatable mental health issues, such as schizophrenia, epilepsy, and suicidal depression, do not have access to diagnosis or pharmacological treatment.
Mental Health
The Case for Community Peer Support
Community based peer support is an evidence- based practice shown to positively impact 80% of low-level mental health issues, including anxiety, depression, and social isolation.
Peer support groups for young women can also support economic opportunities, access to health, and prevent high risk transactional relationships.
80% of the rural workforce is still dependent on rain fed subsistence agriculture; but shrinking family plots of land, movement onto marginal lands, and climate variability leads to endemic poverty and family vulnerability.
When girls finish primary school at age 14 (grade 7) they return to their village with little prospects for education or economic opportunity; hence the 30% marriage and 30% teen birth rate.
Economic Vulnerability
Gender-Based Violence & Impact on Children
About 68% of children experience corporal punishment (beatings) in the home.
Between 15-20% of girls will suffer from sexual assault during their teenage years
42% of children have witnessed a family member being verbally and physically assaulted.
The ACE Model: Empowerment from Within
In Malawi, we believe that providing peer support and a pathway to healing, and instilling practical skills and a growth mindset, will stabilize young adults, lead to healthier and more stable families, and break the cycle of inter-generational trauma and poverty.