Advocacy key to ending child marriages

 Mchinji district social welfare and child protection officer Precious Madengu has described advocacy for the rights of children as key in fighting teen marriages and pregnancies in the district.

Speaking during at a recent advocacy training session for primary school learners organised by Girls Activist Youth Organisation (Gayo), he said there is need to mobilise resources to deal with the vices in the district.

Madengu said: “This training will help learners to have the responsibility of fighting for their own rights, which will lessen our work as Social Welfare Office.

“The children are focal points in this campaign since they are the ones that face the abuses, so, we need more of such trainings to annihilate child marriages and other forms of child abuse in the district.”

He commended Gayo for the initiative, stressing the need for more of such trainings if cases of child abuse are to end in the district.

Gayo field officer Karen Seyani said the training focused on child-to-child monitoring, child journalism, child rights and how children can report any abuse that they face in their communities.

He said after the training, the learners are expected to form child advocacy clubs in their respective schools.

“We are here to train learners from Rusa, Kalulu, Chafuta and Chankhanga primary schools on child advocacy.

“We want participants to trace and report various forms of abuse in their schools and enjoying an abuse-free environment,” he said.

One of the participants, Pemphero Mtembe of Kalulu Primary School said the training empowered her to know her rights and her responsibilities to fight abuse in the community.

Gayo is implementing Rusa Community Engagement Sponsorship Programme to fight teen marriages and pregnancies in Traditional Authority Kapondo in the district with support from World Vision Malawi