* Zanyengo App https://apkcombo.com/malawi-zanyengo-app/xdk.intel.zanyengoApp/ to be available for downloading on online Playstore
* Bad weather is becoming a norm and there is need for the public to access updates technologically
* Innovation to continue by adding SMS updates through mobile phone service providers
By Duncan Mlanjira
As bad weather is becoming a norm whose effects have greatly impacted the country social and economic livelihood, the Ministry of Natural Resources — through the Department of Climate Change & Meteorological Services (DCCMS) — has created Zanyengo App, to be accessed by the public for real-time weather updates.
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To be available for downloading on online Playstore, Zanyengo App https://apkcombo.com/malawi-zanyengo-app/xdk.intel.zanyengoApp/ will cater for the public to access updates technologically as regards to their areas of residence or along route of travel up to their destinations for safe travel.
The digital innovation will be continued by adding SMS updates through mobile phone service providers and there will also be a feedback page on which the public can ask for more details as pertaining to their areas of residence.
Most service providers such as insurance companies, betting companies, Ministry of Health — including the mobile phone providers themselves — use simple SMS messages to reach out even to ruralfolks with updates.
Most people in rural communities have access to mobile phones, dubbed ‘Mose wa lero’, through which they send and receive SMSs — thus DCCMS to further innovate its weather updates using SMSs.
According to a 2023 national survey report on access and use of information and communication technologies (ICT) by households and individuals in Malawi, revealed that 68% of the people in the country have access to internet through the use of mobile phones, computers and other gadgets.
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Thus Zanyengo App has been created for easy and swift access to weather updates as opposed to those transmitted through radio and television stations, which still will continue with the tradition.
The App was officially unveiled on Tuesday at Crossroads Hotel in Lilongwe as part of commemoration of World Meteorological Day — which falls on March 23 but DCCMS extended the celebration by designating sensitisation campaign to the general public and schools on weather and climate awareness under the theme; ‘At the Frontline of Climate Action’ (‘Patsogolo ndi ntchito yolimbana ndi kusintha kwa Nyengo’).
DCCMS Directory, Dr. Lucy Mtilatila stressed that bad weather is becoming a norm whose effects were devastating as many people weren’t in sync with weather updates, thus they were caught unawares.
Dr. Lucy Mtalimanja
And this is very true to a huge extent as in 2023, DCCMS kept updating the public as Cyclone Freddy was developing in the Indian Ocean up the time it made its landfall on the Mozambican coast — before it return to the sea.
Only to turn back with vengeance and stronger and as it landed into Malawi, it wreaked destruction of public infrastructure and vulnerable people’s homes and valuable property.
The same has happened due to rising levels of Lake Malawi through high rainfall occurrences in the northern catchment of Lake Malawi, both in Malawi and Tanzania, which had been receiving abnormal rains due to effects of El Niño phenomena.
Thus Mtilatila emphasised that having several platforms will help people to get weather information and plan for it and she encouraged the public to utilize the digital platform, saying it is user friendly that will be providing weather forecast for up to seven days ahead including advisories.
“We understand that access to information is a limiting factor, hence we introduce this mobile App and it is very interactive,” Mtilatila said.
Richard Pelekamoyo
Gracing the occasion was Ministry Principal Secretary-Administration, Richard Pelekamoyo who applauded DCCMS for being at the forefront developing products such as the Zanyengo App that are essential in providing information that supports decision making.
“Weather Apps are common and have become an essential part of our daily routine, providing us with up-to-date information about the weather conditions in our area and around the world,” Pelekamoyo said.
He thanked sponsors and organizers of the event for their support particularly Malawi Red Cross Society, Plan International, Churches Action in Relief and Development (CARD), Self Help Africa, UNICEF, Ministry of Agriculture and many more, whose commitment to climate action is making a difference in the fight against climate change.
The Ministry and DCCMS engaged various stakeholders to the event that included farming and fisheries cooperatives who displayed their services, which the guests, that included delegates from Norwegian Meteorological Institute, viewed their pavilions.
The theme — ‘At the Frontline of Climate Action’ (Patsogolo ndi ntchito yolimbana ndi kusintha kwa Nyengo) — was coined as a call to take a stand against the devastating effects of climate change and encourages the public to be at the forefront of driving change while advocating for policies that prioritize the protection of the environment and the well-being of future generations.
In line with this, DCCMS, in partnership with UNICEF, is inculcating the culture of being ‘At the Frontline of Climate Action’ by reaching out to young minds in primary schools through the introduction of Weather Kids Competition.
It has been rolled out in Chikwawa and to be made available across the country, that encourages the learners to be on their toes in accessing weather information which they can use to compose various innovations such as poetry, artistic adverts, songs among others.
Some of the children who graced the commemoration where they recited poems
Also announced is the Climate & Weather information platform for fishers and farmers as well as the establishment of Meteorological Society, a platform where all stakeholders will come together to tackle the changing climate.
The delegates at the event were appraised that such a society has been established in over 80 countries that are networking to advance meteorology knowledge in relation to climate change.
Climate change has in recent past greatly affected Malawi through Cyclones Idai, Ana, Gombe and Freddy — and most recently the rising levels of Lake Malawi — whose effects were loss of thousands of lives, destruction of public infrastructure, households and loss of agricultural crops among others.
Damage at Kapichira caused by Cyclone Ana
Effects of Cyclone Freddy
The authorities have always encouraged the citizenry that climate change is happening because of the devastation of forest reserves through wanton cutting down of trees for charcoal production.
There have been deliberate efforts by both the government and the corporate world to inculcate into the citizenry the culture of protection of the environment but still trees are been devastated at alarming rates in protected areas.
Most people who died from the flash floods caused by the cyclones — especially Ana and Freddy — were through landslides from bare mountains and washed away houses that were constructed in restricted wetland areas.
In engaging the young minds in schools and the public at large, the intention is to create awareness that they should always follow weather updates that the Department releases on daily basis, which come with warnings for possible adverse conditions as well as advisories on how to stay safe.
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Well articulated. Patsogolo ndi ntchito yolimbana ndi kusintha kwa Nyengo