Guest Spot

Project to liberate adolescents

Malawi is ranked 12th out of 195 countries in the World with highest number of child marriages. Forty-two percent of girls marry before the age of 18 and 17 percent of them, before the age of 15. Machinga and Lilongwe are some of the districts with highest cases of teenage pregnancies and child marriages. To complement government’s efforts in addressing the menace, Plan International Malawi (PIM), SRHR Africa Trust (SAT) and Forum for African Women Educationists (Fawema) have partnered and rolled out a project called ‘Break Free’ (BF) in the two districts. Our Contributor AYAMBA KANDODO caught up with ‘Break Free; country coordinator JUDITH PANGANI to explain more about the initiative:

Pangani: We have several strategies to achieve our overall expected objectives

Q: Tell us more about this intervention you are implementing?

A. We are implementing a five-year [2021-2025] joint lobby and advocacy programme called ‘Break Free!’ with funding from Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs which targets adolescents and young people aged 10-24. The programme is envisaged to create an environment where adolescents can exercise their right to live free from teenage pregnancy (TP) and child marriage (CM) supported by the civil society. The project has three main outcomes, which are: Firstly, ensure that adolescent girls at risk of CM/TP access quality and safe education; Secondly, duty-bearers and decision-makers develop, resource and implement laws and policies that respond to adolescents’ needs and; Lastly, we want the adolescents to have access to quality Sexual Reproductive and Health Rights (SRHR) information, education, and services. Our impact districts are Lilongwe in Traditional Authority (T/A) Njewa and Machinga in T/A Chiwalo. However, we also have interventions at national level. Worth mentioning is the fact that, in this programme, we work with ministries Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare; Health, Education and Justice.

Q. What necessitated this project?

A. Malawi has the highest prevalence rate of TP and CM, which is at 42 percent for girls who marry before the age 18 and 17 percent of girls before the age of 15. There is also high national adolescent birth rate of 138 per 1 000 births for girls aged 15-19. In addition, TP is also at 29 percent ((DHS 2015-2016), which is high. This is due to harmful social norms, gender equality, low contraceptive use, low education levels, social economic status and poverty, lack of SRHR knowledge and Physical/sexual violence. Regarding youth-friendly health services (YFHS), only 31.7 percent of young people have heard of YFHS and that only 13 percent have used these services (DHS 2015-2016). There is also lack of implementation of the laws, policies, standards and strategies that protect girls and women from CM and TP. Malawi ranks 173 out of 188 on UN’s Gender Inequality Index (Gender Equality Fact Sheet-Usaid).

Q. What strategies have you put in place to change the status quo?

A. We have several strategies to achieve our overall expected objectives. We have fashioned out social movement/network building, capacity-building, network building of civil society organisations (CSOs), youth hubs and youth groups, access to lobby platforms, lobby and advocacy campaigns, research, learning and exchange.

Q. Which other countries are implementing this similar project, and why going for a consortium?

A. The consortium arrangement allows for greater geographic coverage, inclusion of technical and sectoral strengths from multiple organisations and the potential of much greater impact through the synergy of collaboration as well as greater coverage. If you look at the ‘Break Free Consortium’, each institution has its unique expertise. For instance, PlM is one of the child-rights institutions which advances child-rights and equality for girls. They are key in dealing with harmful social norms that contribute to CM and TP. Fawema promotes girls’ education. They are experts in dismantling gender disparities in education and promote access, retention, and improved quality of education for girls whereas SAT is experienced in youth participation, mobilisation and advocacy and innovative delivery of adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRHR) information, education and services and creation of protective environments for young people.

Therefore, our interventions complement each other. The project is being implemented in nine countries, including Malawi. The others Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Mozambique and Zambia.

Q. What have you achieved so far?

A. Well! ‘Break Free’ programme has revived the national girls education network after being inactive for a long period. It has to be stated that this is a strategic structure for advocacy around girls’ education at national level. The consortium advocated for the construction classroom blocks, teachers’ office and toilets at Nsakalu Primary School in Machinga. Meanwhile, the community, in collaboration with the district’s education office, have constructed the head teacher’s office at this school. Young people have started doing self-initiative interventions after being trained in lobby and advocacy. Twenty-four outreaches were conducted in 2021 and reached out to 2 080 with SRHR services while 1 826 adolescents and young people accessed SRHR information and education.

Q. What other measurable achievements have you made?

A. Forty-two girls were withdrawn from marriages and enrolled back at school during the first year of BF implementation. Twenty-four schools in Lilongwe and Machinga have been trained on code of conduct and they have started sensitising all school-related structures on education laws and policies, including re-admission policy. Break Free also engaged Parliamentary Committee on Health to advocate for increased budget allocation for sexual reproductive health.

Q. What changes do you anticipate to see at the end of the project?A. Political will to address ASRHR and education needs of girls; CSOs effectively advocating for improved implementation of SRHR; education and gender-related laws, policies, guidelines and resourcing; young people having agency against CM and TP; parents, duty-bearers and teachers adopting positive social norms on girls education and ASRHR; inclusive social movement/networks and structures; adolescents, parents, and duty-bearers (mother groups, PTAs, SCCs, teachers, and community members) being aware of the importance of SRHR education; youth, who have capacity to use score card to improve access to YFHS; parents and guardians capacitated on existing policies and laws to promote reporting on sexual gender-based violence and reporting of CM; increased interaction between CSOs and policy-makers and duty-bearers on gender equality and SRHR; laws on CM and TP translated, packaged in user-friendly format and disseminated.

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