Every organisation reaches a moment when it sees that its work is being recognised well beyond the communities where it began. For Emerge Livelihoods, that moment came with the Emerging NGO of the Year Award. The award is a recognition to the communities, partners and people who build this work with us.
On 30 September 2026, at the Bingu International Convention Centre in Lilongwe, the Minister of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare, Honourable Mary Navicha, presented the Emerging NGO of the Year Award to the Emerge Livelihoods team. The story of that award began with partners and the communities long before the ceremony.
It begins with young people in the Emerge Learn Initiative, who arrive with ideas and leave as innovators with solutions of their own. It grows with community members who gain practical skills and turn them into sustainable sources of income, building livelihoods that last. It includes young people who are stepping into leadership in their communities today and shaping the change they want to see. It includes boys and girls who are building digital skills from an early age, preparing to take part with confidence in a world that increasingly runs on technology. And it includes women and young entrepreneurs who are building and running their own businesses, taking charge of their work and income and opening doors for others to follow.
Together, they are part of 25,000+ people Emerge Livelihoods has reached in Malawi and beyond and each of them is a driver of change in their own community. That work has been seen.
The Council for Non-Governmental Organisations in Malawi (CONGOMA) nominated Emerge Livelihoods for the award, working with the NGO Regulatory Authority (NGORA), the Local NGO Forum and the International NGO Forum. These four bodies represent the regulators, local organisations and international partners across Malawi’s NGO sector. Their nomination shows that what communities are building now carries weight at national level. It is known, respected and valued well beyond the places where it happens.
This year’s National NGO Day theme was “Doing more with less: Partnerships, innovation and efficiency for inclusive development.” It reflects how Emerge Livelihoods already works. We co-create solutions with the communities who will use them so that people shape their own development and own the results. We work with partners to pool resources, skills and ideas so that every contribution goes further. And we measure our impact by the lasting change in people’s lives not by the number of people reached.
For a growing organisation, the award opens real opportunities. National partners, donors and policymakers now have a clearer view of the work and the communities driving it. Partners, sector bodies and government have shown they stand behind what Emerge Livelihoods is building with communities. And the team, partners and community members who do the work have been encouraged to keep going.
