Raising Malawi

Raising Malawi

Industry	Non-profit
Founded	2006 (2006)
Founder	Madonna Michael Berg
Headquarters	United States
Area served	Worldwide

Raising Malawi is a charity non-profit organization that was founded by Madonna and Michael Berg in 2006. It is dedicated to helping with the extreme poverty and hardship endured by Malawi's one million orphans, primarily through health and education programming. Initially, the "Raising Malawi Academy for Girls" was to be constructed but following an audit by the Global Philanthropy Group, which questioned expenditure on salaries and benefits as well as the management capacity and culture, the charity's school headmistress resigned in October 2010 and the project was scrapped.

In January 2012, the organisation announced a partnership to build 10 primary schools to serve over 1,000 children in rural Malawi. Children received primary education support, including academic scholarships, school uniforms, and learning materials. They will benefit from the construction of new or renovated primary and secondary schools. In December 2014 it was announced that the organization completed ten schools to educate 4,871 children in different locations in Malawi. The enterprise was in association with buildOn and will benefit children of all sexes and the project was completed within twelve months, six months ahead of schedule.^[1]

In April 2013, President of Malawi Joyce Banda expressed criticism of Madonna and her charity, accusing her of exaggerating her charity's contribution and "bullying state officials." Madonna responded by releasing a statement saying she was saddened that Banda "has chosen to release lies about what we've accomplished, my intentions, how I personally conducted myself while visiting Malawi and other untruths. I have no intention of being distracted by these ridiculous allegations." Later, it was confirmed that Banda had not approved the statement released written by her press team and was "incandescent with anger" over the mix-up. Madonna has since further strengthened her relationship with the Malawian government. In November 2014, Madonna and the Raising Malawi team visited the country and met with newly elected President Peter Mutharika as well as several Government Ministers. During the visit, President Mutharika named Madonna the Goodwill Ambassador for Child Welfare. Madonna said in a statement, "I feel a deep commitment and love for the children of Malawi and am grateful for the support of the Government. I look forward to my new role as Goodwill Ambassador for Child Welfare." ^[2]