Youths vow to fight child marriages
Youths in Machinga District have pledged to work with their counterparts in Dedza to implement activities to fight child marriages and unplanned pregnancies.
They made the commitment on Thursday in the district when they hosted their counterparts from Dedza District.
This was an exchange learning visit organised by Youth Wave under a Power to Youth (PtY) project being implemented in the two districts which seeks to empower the youth to take proactive actions to fight child marriages, unplanned pregnancies and gender-based violence.
Speaking during the event, Prisca Masika, a youth champion from Active Youth Empowerment from Traditional Authority (T/A) Kapoloma in Machinga, said they will continue to preach against child marriages in their areas.
“We commend PtY project for empowering us. Previously, it was difficult to confront people who perpetrated vices such as child marriages in our areas. But through the project, we now know how to address these challenges,” she said.
Masika said they will not relent because they want to address dropout rate among girls in their areas which comes due to early marriages or unplanned pregnancies.
Her counterpart, Edina James from T/A Mizinga in Machinga pledged to hold duty-bearers accountable on the delivery of essential services such as health, education and security to ensure that the youth achieve their goals.
“Most youths fall prey to child marriages or get unplanned pregnancies because they cannot access sexual and reproductive health services. We will, therefore, ensure that we engage our leaders on these,” she said.
