17/12/2025
For many years now, CISER has been implementing a community-based ecotourism model that blends tourism with conservation, education, and sustainable community development.
Through partnerships with travel and tourism companies, visiting clients engage in responsible tourism experiences that include interaction with students at Rainbow Hope Secondary School through drama, poetry, traditional dances and mentorship activities; cultural immersion through traditional meal preparation at local homes and attendance of local weddings; lakeshore conservation experiences through beach walks and engagement with Beach Village Committees; and interaction with children at Nana’s ECD Centre. These experiences generate financial and in-kind support that is reinvested into nationally aligned development outcomes.
Using this model, CISER has supported over 100 vulnerable students, strengthened schools such as Rainbow Hope Secondary School with learning infrastructure and ICT, and promoted environmental conservation and community health initiatives.
One of the major outcomes has been improved access to safe and treated water through the installation of approximately 3 kilometres of water pipelines, in collaboration with Koche Water Users’ Association, alongside the construction of community water kiosks in strategic locations across Makokola, Makawa, and Mpemba villages in Mangochi District. Prior to this intervention, communities relied on boreholes or water fetched directly from Lake Malawi.
This initiative was inspired by the construction of an Under-Five Clinic, with the goal of ensuring safe water access around the health facility for children and caregivers.
Recently, with support from GIZ Malawi under the MIERA Project, CISER facilitated the construction of eco-friendly ecotourism infrastructure at Nkhudzi Hill Site — including trail maintenance, a resting shelter, picnic benches, and an Eco-San toilet — now handed over to Government through Lake Malawi National Park.
Watch the video below as we share more about CISER’s ecotourism journey, achievements, and the impact of our partnership with Orbis DMC.
