Kawandama Hills IS committed to engaging community members both around the plantation and in the surrounding communities  


Kalungulu Village & MKOKO PRIMARY SCHOOL

Kalungulu Village was once a disused government forestry station, which we began renovating in 2011. Since then, we’ve built additional housing and installed boreholes to provide clean water. Today, the village supports over 70 families in two residential compounds. With solar panels, a generator for lighting and recreation, and football and netball pitches, Kalungulu has grown into a vibrant community. We also partner with a health and family planning organisation to provide regular education and support on wellness and medical options.

Our staff live in the village rent-free and benefit from access to a wholesale tuck shop, an on-site bakery, and a vegetable garden—making daily life more convenient and reducing the need to travel for household essentials.

Kalungulu is also home to a nursery and a full primary school, Mkoko School, which now educates over 90 children from Standards 1 to 8. Eight qualified teachers live on-site in staff housing. Endorsed by the District Education Office, Mkoko School is equipped with books, a library, an IT centre, a TV, and sports facilities. We’ve recently added a hostel that accommodates 24 students from the wider community.

We are deeply grateful to our donor, Citrefine International Ltd, for supporting these transformative projects.

CHARITABLE PROJECTS IN Northern Malawi

We work closely with UK charity, Expand, (Charity No:1137120) to improve and provide education in the region through building infrastructure and facilitating training sessions on all kinds of topics. In addition to the primary and secondary schools, we also implement development projects together. To date we’ve designed and renovated a health clinic, nursery and sports programmes and also offer bursaries to pay secondary school fees.

When our Nkhata Bay projects were completed, these were handed over to the community and government to continue to run sustainably. 

In one of the renovated classrooms at Mkoko Primary
Donated books which are in short supply in Malawi and are very valuable


the Lucheche Cooperative 

Kawandama Hills established the Lucheche Cooperative informally in 2013 and trialled the planting of Corymbia citriodora trees with them on their own farm land. The aim was to give the community increased income generation with them pruning their trees and selling the leaf biomass back to KHP.  The scheme was so successful that the Cooperative was formally registered and trained, and now has 70 hectares of planted trees. 

Thanks to a three year grant by USAID’s Perform project between 2016-2019, the Lucheche- KHP partnership was a great success and we continue to help them build their plantations. The Cooperative now has 172 farmers, who on average sell us 80 ton of leaf mass each year. This extra income has resulted in famers building houses and sending more of their children to school. It’s also enabled many to start secondary businesses through purchasing cows for dairy making and chickens for egg selling. Bringing about greater income generating opportunities is also an important deterrent to curbing illegal bushmeat trading and illegal charcoal production in Viphya.

The Cooperative also works together, providing loans for members to help each other create other innovative ways to generate income.