NGO push for intensive campaign to protect girls

Girls Network Malawi, an organisation that focuses on keeping girls in school by addressing the challenges they face in acquiring education, has called for concerted efforts in addressing challenges faced by girls which continue to act as stumbling blocks to their attaining a vivid future.

The network’s founder and executive director Ulala Kondowe was speaking in Blantyre during a four-day ‘Know Your Strength’ youth summit aimed at building leadership skills in young people, impart them with skills on dealing with various forms of gender-based violence as well as sexual reproductive health issues.

Kondowe said despite efforts by different stakeholders, girls in the country continue to face various challenges; hence, the need for a holistic approach to address the vice.

Among the challenges includes dropping out of school due to poverty, rape/ defilement, early marriages, teenage pregnancies, child labour and retrogressive cultural practices.

According to the United Nations (UN), a quarter of women between 15-49 years-old in Malawi have experienced physical or sexual intimate partner violence within the last 12 months, and one-third of women experiencing such violence in their lifetime.

Further, child marriage is also common with 46 percent of women between 20-24 year- old first married before age 18.

“The Girls Network Malawi envisions a nation where the girl child stays in school and excels. We would like to empower these girls so that they stand up on their own and fight for their rights as well as for others,” said Kondowe.

According to Kondowe, to achieve this, the summit which had 75 participating female students from various schools in Blantyre, incorporated 25 male students for them to learn to respect and value women and girls as they grow.

She explained: “When we talk of gender based violence most perpetrators are boys and men. That is why we want these boys to grow with respect for a woman and value her, in that way we will be able to deal with the vice.”

One of the participants, Leah Sayeruzika, a 15-year-old Form Three student at Chichiri Secondary School hailed the network for organising the summit which she said equipped her with skills on HIV/Aids, sexual reproductive health, menstrual hygiene and life skills.

The Know Your Strength project is funded by the United States (US) Government. n