Women Inspire advancing girls’ lives

Women Inspire Foundation, a growing female community aimed at helping women and girls realise their full potential held its first graduation of a programme called Msungwana wa Lero.

“We launched the programme with girls from Chief Makata’s area in Ndirande, Blantyre in January 2017. Since then our volunteers, who were specially trained for the job, have been meeting the girls every Sunday from March to July.

“They were under the United States Agency for International Development (USaid) Dreams Toolkit curriculum that included topics on personal development and capacity-building,” said the organisation’s founder, Deliwe Makata.

The graduation, which took place on August 12, saw 35 girls receiving certificates.

She said the day also celebrated Women Inspire volunteers for the job well done,  awarding them with certificates, too.

The graduation was graced by Mulanje West parliamentarian Patricia Kaliati, who hailed the initiative.

“We need more organisations in the country to help in implementing government policies just like Women Inspire is doing. When girls are equipped with leadership skills, it will be easier to have them in decision making positions in future,” said Kaliati.

She also noted that when girls are empowered, they will be able to say ‘no’ to boys and men, and they will become winners.

“Most girls get in trouble because they do not know how to say ‘no’ or to stand up for themselves. They get into relationships they do not want, or get impregnated or raped because they cannot say ‘no’,” she said.

Those who graduated will now join Women Inspire’s alumni project, which involves a more practical approach to change.

“We expect that after teaching them for five months, and showing traceable records of change, they will become the ambassadors of the project to girls in other areas.

“As such, one of the things they will be doing will be to stand as models to our other initiatives that are going on in other areas. The girls will be expected to also speak and share their areas of change as a way of encouraging those that are still going in the project,” Makata said.

She added that the organisation’s work revolves around establishing highly impactful projects in communities and within the organisation to further the lives of the volunteers.

“We have a couple of projects lined up, that will see many women and girls learning and taking active roles in leading and development first themselves, then their communities,” she said.

Among the challenges they faced in executing their objectives, the founder said finances and acceptance is the biggest, considering that the organisation is still young.

Women Inspire Foundation is currently running two programmes, namely Msungwana wa Lero and Tsogolo Lathu.

Women Inspire has reached out and helped hundreds of women and girls in civic leadership, education and career guidance. They currently have projects in Ndirande, Blantyre; Chinsapo in Lilongwe and Tom Allan Village in Zomba.