Four secondary schools—Ndirande Hill, Zingwangwa Secondary School, Chikwawa Secondary School, and Mnthumba CDSS—are teaming up with the Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Programme (MLW) in a vibrant school engagement activity aimed at using arts to address the health impacts of climate change. The initiative, part of MLW’s broader climate change and health project, is bringing together celebrated musician Eli Njuchi, MLW’s drama mentors, and visual art experts to guide students in transforming complex climate-health messages into engaging songs, dramas, and visual artworks.

The schools are currently completing their first mentorship sessions, where students are developing original works under professional guidance. Under Eli Njuchi’s direction, learners are composing and recording climate-themed songs; drama and behaviour change expert Luke Manja is training them in drama production, while visual artists are mentoring them in creating compelling artistic expressions of climate and health themes.

Following the mentorship phase, the schools will face off in a friendly competition. Ndirande Hill and Zingwangwa Secondary School will compete in the urban category. At the same time, Chikwawa Secondary School and Mnthumba will contend in the rural group, with winners selected across various art forms.

This initiative comes at a critical moment, as Malawi continues to grapple with the health impacts of climate change, exemplified by Tropical Cyclone Freddy, which claimed over 1,200 lives and devastated health infrastructure. By empowering young people to communicate scientific truths through creativity, the project is sparking dialogue, inspiring action, and building resilience.

As one student from Ndirande Hill shared: “This is an exciting process. What I like is the sharing nature of it and that we can make climate change messages, which are sometimes boring, interesting.” This youth-led, arts-driven approach promises to make climate and health messaging resonate deeply in classrooms, communities, and beyond.