1. Introduction and Purpose of the Visit
In 2025, the Kansai Osaka Expo highlighted Malawi as an emerging hub for business, agriculture, and sustainable development aligned with the national Malawi Vision 2063.
As Seibo Japan worked as an official translator at the pavilion, we got various networks with Malawi, making Seibo Japan more leading roles to make a bridge between Malawi and Japan.
(For the details of our work in Expo 2025, see here)

Against this background, NPO Seibo Japan conducted a strategic visit to Malawi to strengthen partnerships, review ongoing programs, and set organizational goals for 2026.
The visit focused on integrating education, school feeding, and social business, while responding to ※organizational changes within Seibo Maria Malawi and expanding collaboration with Beehive and Mother Teresa Children Center’s Outreach Team.

※Current Situation of Seibo Maria Malawi
①Seibo Maria Malawi
Seibo Maria Malawi is a partner organization of NPO Seibo (also known as Seibo Japan).
It is responsible for providing school meals on the ground in Malawi.
This school feeding program is implemented as an outreach project, expanding educational and nutritional support to the wider community.

②Beehive (a Malawian social enterprise)
From 2025, Seibo Maria Malawi became part of Beehive, a social enterprise based in Malawi.
Beehive integrates and manages multiple social, educational, and welfare-related initiatives.

③Mother Theresa Children Centre (Kindergarten)
The Mother Theresa Children Centre is a kindergarten (early childhood centre) within Beehive.
It focuses on early childhood education and nutrition, supporting the healthy development of young children in the community.

③Role of Seibo Maria Malawi (Outreach Project)
The school feeding activities carried out by Seibo Maria Malawi are positioned as an outreach project of the Mother Theresa Children Centre.
Through this outreach, support is extended not only to children attending the kindergarten but also to children in surrounding primary schools.

④Krizevac Project (UK-based charity)
Beehive is supported and overseen by a UK-based charity called the Krizevac Project.
The Krizevac Project provides overall coordination, strategic guidance, and support for Beehive and its related initiatives.

⑤Overall Structure (Summary)
Krizevac Project (UK)
→ Beehive (Malawian social enterprise)
→ Mother Theresa Children Centre (Kindergarten)
→ School feeding outreach project implemented by Seibo Maria Malawi

All charity projects within the same group can be viewed on the Krizevac Project website here:

2. Overview of Activities and Institutional Visits
During the visit, Seibo Japan engaged with a wide range of educational, religious, business, and development institutions, including:

-Lake Malawi Anglican University
-University of Blantyre Synod
-Kalibu Academy International School
-Mary Queen of Peace & Mother Teresa Children Centre
-St. James Parish / St. Louis de Montfort Parish
-Medical Missionary of Mary
-Seibo Maria Malawi staff
-Beehive Social Enterprise and Beehive IT Team
-Malawi Investment and Trade Centre (MITC)
-Mawa Farm and Satemwa Tea Estate
-Beetech
-Caritas Malawi (CADECOM / Caritas Africa)

3. Organizational Significance and 2026 Goals of NPO Seibo
Based on discussions and field observations, NPO Seibo Japan reaffirmed three core organizational priorities for 2026:

-Sharing a Clear Business and Social Vision
-Strengthening alignment among Seibo Japan, Seibo Maria Malawi, Beehive, and partner institutions.
-Embedding the Vision through Education Programs
-Expanding the use of Seibo’s projects as case studies in Japanese high schools and universities, particularly Christian institutions.
-Translating Vision into Action at School Feeding Sites
-Improving monitoring, reporting, and cost calculation of school meal programs to ensure transparency and sustainability.

4. Educational Collaboration with Universities
Meetings with Lake Malawi Anglican University and the University of Blantyre Synod explored concrete proposals for academic collaboration, including:

-Joint courses linking Japanese and Malawian students
-Online exchanges via ※Moodle and Zoom
-Co-development of social business and marketing case studies
-Service-learning and internship programs with certification

※Educational Outreach on Moodle :
Seibo Japan is launching its Online Course for Learning and Practicing Social Business for Malawi, in which Saga University in Japan works together to create Moodle platform for monetize the process to accept Japanese as students and Malawians as teachers and advisers.

5. Summary of Discussions with Seibo Maria Malawi
Meetings with Seibo Maria Malawi focused on organizational operations and sustainability. The followings are its summary.

-Consolidation of annual activity data (January–December) and improvement of monthly reporting systems
-Financial planning for the September–August feeding cycle, including preparation for 2026 operational costs
-Review of surplus fund utilization to stabilize meal provision and expand outreach programs
-Volunteer and human resource management, with an emphasis on skill transfer in IT, design, and media production.
-Seibo Japan’s team consists of one full-time staff member(Makoto Yamada) and other students part-time workers (8x persons).
-The challenge for 2026 is that we have to create a clear division between full-time and part-time workers and make a more productive team.

6. Social Business, IT, and Digital Development
Collaboration with Beehive Social Enterprise and Beetech highlighted the importance of IT infrastructure in program sustainability:

-Installation of Starlink and network improvements for reporting
-Development of a school meal tracking system
-Website development and digital content creation
-Exploration of IT centers in Chilomoni to support NGOs, including Caritas Malawi
-Starlink : We installed it but need to follow to provide the battery and charger.
-Website development : Try to work together with Caritas Malawi for their website. Also, Bishop Coference is always interested in re-creating its website.

7. Collaboration with Caritas Malawi (CADECOM)
Discussions with Caritas Malawi, operating nationally as CADECOM, identified multiple areas of potential collaboration:
Alignment with CADECOM’s nationwide diocesan network to promote school feeding awareness among Japanese Catholic schools.

-Potential supply of locally produced maize (Likuni Phala) from Seibo Mill for Caritas-supported feeding programs. (handed over to Joe Owen)
-Joint IT and digital marketing support through Beehive and Beetech.(handed over to May Bibiko)
-Development of educational case studies linking Seibo, Beehive, and Caritas initiatives, with presentations at Catholic education academic conferences.(Met some of the priests to share ideas)
-Exploration of environmentally friendly technologies such as briquettes for school kitchens with Colarbath, Japanese NGO to make briquettes.

These ideas align with Pope Francis’s Global Compact on Education and Caritas Malawi’s focus on women, children, livelihoods, and long-term development.

8. Future Actions
-Finalize and share consolidated annual activity data with stakeholders with Victor＆Mwai from Seibo Maria Malawi.
-Organize major charity events, including marathon-based fundraising initiatives, collaborating with Seibo Maria Malawi teams to think of the returns for corporates.
-Following up Starklink issues for improvement to share information about CBCCs.
-Continue sharing progress through social media and annual reports with Mwai