Small Scale Livestock and Livelihoods Program

(Formerly the Small Scale Livestock Promotion Program - SSLPP)

Sute Mwakasungula has a long background in livestock development. For much of his youth he was outside Malawi. He spent his early post-school years in Russia where in 1984, he gained the degree of Master of Science in Animal Husbandry. Later, he worked for nine years as Extension Advisor for a Swiss supported Small-scale Dairy Development Project in Southern Tanzania, then for one year as training manager on a large dairy enterprise in Zimbabwe. Sute also holds a Master of Science degree in Strategic Management from University of Derby, UK, as well as an Advanced Diploma in Tropical Agriculture Extension from Edinburgh.

Sute was able to return to Malawi in 1994 where he was for a short time Officer in Charge of the national Livestock Production and Marketing Unit. That unit was responsible for all government farms in Malawi.

However, Sute soon became interested in the establishment of a local NGO and took every opportunity to discuss and promote his ideas about an institution which could help fill the vacuum created by the increasing impediments to provision of adequate government services to the livestock sector.

With help and support from friends and colleagues, he established the SSLLP of which he has been the Executive Director for over ten years now. Although the early years were difficult and uncertain, the institution has moved to a position of strength and optimism and today fills a unique niche amongst the numerous NGOs throughout the country.

Sute's other areas of interest include cooperative/association development and natural resources management.