US Vice President’s wife arrives in Malawi

Jill Biden, wife to United States Vice President, Joe Biden arrived in the country on Monday as part of her three-country visit to Africa to engage government and civil society partners on issues related to economic empowerment and educational opportunities for women and girls, and food security.

On Monday evening, Dr. Biden hosted a reception for humanitarian aid workers, civil society representatives, and staff from the American embassy.

According to the statement seen by FaceofMalawi, today Tuesday Dr. Biden will travel to Manchinjiri to visit a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Food for Peace program being implemented by Catholic Relief Services, where she will meet with local families, community leaders, government officials and representatives from Catholic Relief Services and Save the Children to learn more about how the Food for Peace program is helping to address the challenges posed by the severe drought in Malawi caused by El Nino.

The Food for Peace program provides critical food assistance to members of the community in exchange for their work on community watershed management projects that help build resilience to the negative effects of the ongoing drought. This event is open press.

Afterwards, Dr. Biden will travel to Msamba Primary School in Zomba, Malawi, to visit the school which is assisted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s McGovern/Dole Food for Education program implemented by the United Nations World Food Program (WFP). She will be joined by the WFP Executive Director, Ambassador Etharin Cousin and meet with local students, teachers, and community leaders. The school is also a USAID-supported Early Grade Reading (EGRA) pilot school. Dr. Biden will visit one of the classrooms to learn more about an early grade reading lesson and to see the effect of school feeding and education quality programs on student learning. This event is open press.

In the afternoon, Dr. Biden will visit Mtubwi Primary School in the rural Machinga district to see USAID’s Girls’ Empowerment Through Education and Health Activity (ASPIRE). Dr. Biden will have an opportunity to hear from students, mothers’ groups who serve as mentors to girls, and teachers about the integrated support, teacher training, and community after-school programs working to bring girls who have dropped out of school back to the classrooms, while making schools safe places for girls to learn and succeed. This event is open press.

On Wednesday morning, Dr. Biden will travel to Lilongwe, Malawi.

Upon arrival, Dr. Biden will visit the Chigonthi Farmers’ Cooperative in Mbangombe, where a USAID Food for Peace Program, administered by WFP, buys maize from local farmers. Dr. Biden will meet with leaders of the farmer’s cooperative and learn more about how local farmers produce and sell their maize to WFP, both as a means of economic empowerment and to provide food for distribution in drought-stricken areas of the country. This event is pooled press.

Dr. Biden will then visit State House in Lilongwe to meet with Malawi’s First Lady, Madame Gertrude Mutharika. The two will discuss their countries’ shared commitment to empowering women and girls, and fighting food insecurity. This event is pooled press.
Afterwards, Dr. Biden will depart Lilongwe, Malawi en route to Niamey, Niger.