Communities team up to protect children
Community members in Traditional Authority Kameme in Chitipa District have teamed up to fight child marriages and child labour.
Speaking in an interview on Sunday, Citizen Voice and Action (CVA) member Malizgani Chiselu said child labour was rampant in the area.
He said some children drop out of school to herd cattle or cross the border to work in neighbouring Tanzania.
Chiselu cited an a child Mines Sibale who they rescued in 2023 from child labour in Tanzania.
He said: “When we learned that Mines had gone to Tanzania to work, the child protection committee did not waste time but followed her.
“We talked to her parents and convinced them to let the child return to school. She returned and sat for the 2024 Primary School Leaving Certificate of Education [PSLCE] examinations.”
World Vision Malawi volunteer Jane Mubisa said poverty and child neglect force some children into child labour or early marriages.
“However, under child protection, World Vision trained CVA members on how to protect children from various forms of abuse.”
To intensify child protection activities, World Vision this year distributed bicycles to eight volunteers.
World Vision through its sponsorship project is implementing various interventions such as ending child marriages and child labour as well as empowering local structures to report child abuse cases.
