World Relief Announces Launch of New Local NGO in Malawi, Celebrates the Legacy of World Relief Malawi

Local leadership assuming mission and vision spinning out of 82-year-old global evangelical humanitarian organization

Contact: Lauren Rasmussen, media@wr.org, 802.310.4255

BALTIMORE, Md. – Today, World Relief announced the creation of a new, independent Christian NGO in Malawi, birthed out of World Relief Malawi: Impact Relief. Led by a fully local leadership team and board of directors, the new organization’s mission is to empower vulnerable communities to thrive economically, spiritually and socially in partnership with the church.

Over its 82-year history, World Relief has operated in 100 countries. Due to its commitment to empowering, equipping and sending local leaders, the humanitarian arm of the National Association of Evangelicals only maintains international offices in eleven today, in addition to its disaster response work. The organization continues to adhere to its mission to go boldly into the world’s most fragile contexts, places where environmental factors, conflict, displacement, and other shocks intersect with opportunities for community and institutional development. World Relief will continue to partner with Impact Relief and other LNGOs in Malawi.

“World Relief Malawi has walked alongside the church as it has rebuilt after disaster, battled HIV and AIDS, strengthened children’s futures, increased average household income, improved access to clean water, and drew closer to the orphans, widows and strangers in its midst. It has been a privilege to serve the people of Malawi through the work of World Relief,” commented Matilda Matitha, former country director of World Relief Malawi and new executive director of Impact Relief. “Now, Impact Relief takes up the mantle to partner with the church in Malawi and continue the mission of serving vulnerable communities through innovative, local solutions to create flourishing for Malawians led entirely by Malawians. We are encouraged and hopeful for all that God has in store for Malawi.”

World Relief began its initial work in Malawi in 1989, providing disaster relief and engaging the church in response to severe flooding in the southern part of the country. After a hiatus, World Relief reestablished a country office in 1999 to respond to the growing HIV and AIDS crisis in partnership with the church, addressing stigma, supporting those affected by the disease and caring for orphans. The first official church network began with 10 churches and expanded to include economic empowerment and early agricultural loans to extend the reach of family farming operations, and soon the program operated across four districts.

In 2000, World Relief Malawi launched a child survival project that extended into a larger maternal and child initiative that, at its peak, mobilized around 360 churches. World Relief’s Care Group model for child survival and nutrition experienced such success that they were adapted by Malawi’s Department of Nutrition as a recommended community-level approach. One of the organization’s most notable achievements is the Ultra-Poor Graduation program, funded by IFAD through the Ministry of Finance (FARMSE). Designed for households living off government cash transfers, the program helped 6,000 households “graduate” from long-term dependency toward self-reliance by finding a livelihood to support themselves and creating avenues to access additional community network and banking resources. Additional long-term programs include family strengthening, child development and protection, climate smart agriculture, economic empowerment, vocational training, irrigation initiatives, water access and sanitation solutions and savings groups.

Matitha continued: “Impact Relief, like World Relief Malawi, believes that for physical change to last, spiritual change must also take place. We see an important opportunity to deepen the biblical and spiritual resources for pastors, strengthening the heart of our communities, the church, as it goes out as the hands and feet of Jesus.

“It gives me great joy as the CEO of an international NGO to hand the baton of this important, lifesaving work to those best equipped to carry it forward: local teams led by talented, passionate leaders with visions shaped by and for their communities,” commented Myal Greene, president and CEO of World Relief. “Over the years, I have gotten to know our local leaders in Malawi that will lead Impact Relief, and I believe they are extremely well suited to the task at hand. In Malawi, decades of partnership with the local church, community stakeholders and in-country leadership have blossomed into a locally-driven, Gospel-centered vision that World Relief is proud to support in this new season as a peer organization.”

Impact Relief will carry on the existing programming provided by World Relief Malawi in four districts, maintaining the level of excellence the communities and partners have come to expect. Its leadership is deeply rooted in the community and enjoys relationships with the local church and government as a trusted partner. World Relief will continue to support the new local entity in the startup phase, through 2028, with maintained in-country support from World Relief Malawi.

“We believe that this move is a faithful next step in the stories God is writing for World Relief and Malawi,” commented Lanre Williams-Ayedun, senior vice president of international programs at World Relief. “We at World Relief are eager to cheer on the work in Malawi, initially in a support role, and increasingly as Impact Relief’s greatest cheerleader and now, peer.”

World Relief Malawi is the third of four country offices to embark on a wave of localization. Beginning in 2026, this multi-year initiative is designed to come alongside countries that have achieved development and organizational milestones that support them as they establish with local structures and systems for success into the future, in partnership with their local and national governments and the local church. As this tranche of localization concludes, World Relief will evaluate where to embark on new missions in the most fragile and hardest-to-reach countries in the world.

To learn more about Impact Relief, visit impactreliefmalawi.org.

To learn more about World Relief, visit worldrelief.org.