Malawi national women’s football striker Tabitha Chawinga has geared to empower local female football players by supporting them with sport items.

Chawinga who plays for Paris Saint-Germain in France, has introduced her campaign called “Believe In The Possibilities” which is aimed at empowering women break boundaries through arts and proving that a girl child has a place in sports not only in Malawi but to the World.

On Sunday 23 June 2024, Chawinga visited mitundu ground in Lilongwe where her football team TC11 girls was playing witht Richmond Sundowns Academy.

Chawinga donated some different sports items like as one way of giving hope to sports ladies.

A man has allegedly shade those women who are cultivating the habit of being lady during pregnancy period and refusing to do anything just because she Pregnant.

He made a reference to an athlete from United States of America who was 5 months pregnant but participated in a race competitions without regarding her condition.

He also added that most women can not even cook for their husbands just because they are pregnant unlike to Montano who was five months pregnant but partake in an athlete competition.

According to him

Her name is Alysia Montano, an athlete from USA. She is 5 months pregnant and a participant in the race competition. Our women can’t even cook because of 2 months pregnancy.

Stakeholders in Mponela, Dowa have launched 16 days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence (GBV) today.

The launch coincides with growing cases of rape and defilement amongst children and women in the country.

The event started with a march and Halima Daud, Deputy Minister of Local Government attended the event.

Rumphi commercial sex workers have called on authorities to intervene in increased cases of violence from clients before the situation goes out of hand.

Rumphi Commercial Sex Workers Alliance secretary, Penelope Dapalapa made the observation Wednesday during a three day human rights training workshop the alliance organized for its executive members.

She said commercial sex workers face physical and physiological harm which affect their business and wellbeing.

“Most of us [sex workers] face a lot of violence in our daily business. For example we handle cases of sex workers to have been beaten by a client almost on a daily basis.

“As I am speaking one of our colleagues is admitted to Rumphi District Hospital after a potential client beat her up because she refused to sleep with him.

“Fortunate enough the suspect has been arrested by police,” Dapalapa said.

She said clients take advantage because sex workers lack knowledge about their rights and where to report abuses.

“I should acknowledge that most of the sex workers do not know their rights. Some clients do not pay after sleeping with us and we do not know where to go with such issues,” she added.

During the training, Bolero Magistrate, Chikumbutso Kachipande urged the sex workers to report any form of violence to police or courts.

“I understand that sex workers are among vulnerable groups that risk facing violence due to the nature of their work.

“However, the judiciary is ready to provide justice on such matters when reported because it is its duty to protect and uphold the rights of the citizenry regardless of who they are,” he said.

He cautioned the sex workers to be eager to learn more about their rights for them to defend themselves in times of risk.

“You can only defend your rights if you have the full knowledge of those particular rights therefore you have the duty to know your rights so that anyone should not robe you of those rights,” Kachipande added.

One of the commercial sex workers, Chrissy Moyo described the training as an eye opener as she learnt about legislation that protects rights of vulnerable groups such as sex workers.

Rumphi Commercial Sex Workers Alliance organized the training with financial assistance from Urgent Action Fund through Just Associates (JASS).

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Changoima Child Protection Committee in the area of Senior Chief Chapananga in Chikwawa has reportedly managed to withdraw about 30 children from early marriages when schools were closed due to Covid-19 pandemic.

The committee also disclosed to have provided counseling services to the withdrawn girls.

The committee made the revelation on Thursday at Senior Group Village Head (GVH) Changoima’s Headquarters where representatives from district social welfare, Malawi Red Cross Society (MRCS) and Pastors Fraternal held community sensitisation campaign meetings on ending child marriages.

Chairperson for Changoima Child Protection Committee, Kennedy Mtseka said the committee is working hard to eliminate the bad practices so that they should improve education and also promote rights of children in the area.

“We have managed to dissolve 15 early marriages within the area of Senior GVH Changoima making a total number of 30 school children from different schools in our community.

“Some of the cases are promoted by harmful cultural beliefs which influence a child who is below the age of 18 to think that he/she is grown up and can get married after undergoing some cultural rites,” said Mtseka.

Mtseka asked different partners like the police to make a swift address to issues presented to them, saying there have been several cases reported but the law enforcers give it a blind eye.

Chikwawa District Assistant Social Welfare Officer, Emmanuel Banda commended MRCS for the financial support, saying it has made them reach out to the remote areas.

“Changoima is one of the remotest areas that borders Mozambique in the district. So, reaching out to them with the ending child marriages campaign is a milestone for us.

“We are committed to serve and promote rights of children in the district but we are limited at times because we don’t have enough resources to respond to the whole district. Our office records many cases of child marriages which need to be followed up but we need support from partners,” said Banda.

Senior GVH Changoima commended both the committee as well as partners who supported the area with the campaign, saying the support was timely and hoped the campaign will motivate other children who dropped out of school for various reasons to return to school once they reopen.

The 50-50 Campaign Management Agency is garnering more support for Friday’s demonstrations which are being championed by the Women’s Manifesto Movement.

The demonstrations are meant to push for the appointment of women in public positions and will take place in the cities of Lilongwe, Blantyre and Mzuzu.

Team Leader for the 50-50 Campaign Management Agency, Viwemi Chavula notes that appointment of women is a constitutional mandate which does not need pushing from other stakeholders.

Gender rights activists announced demonstrations over President Lazarus Chakwera’s failure to include more women in parastatal boards.

The organizations were dismayed by Chakwera’s sentiments who on Monday challenged women’s rights activists to produce a list of skilled women who qualify to be placed in parastatal boards.

Dr Chakwera who was responding to questions at a press conference to mark 100 days in the country’s highest office said he should be given more time to include more women on the positions in question.

However, the sentiments irked the organizations who have since described it as a lame excuse hence writing the Inspector General informing him of their plans to hold peaceful demonstrations on Friday October 9, 2020.

M’mbelwa District Council has withdrawn 363 children from early marriages out of the 380 verified marriages in the district.

The Council says it has not managed to withdraw all the children due to inadequate financial resources.

Speaking in an interview recently, District Social Welfare Officer for Mzimba, Bernard Nangwale said 380 children in Mzimba South got married during the period when schools were closed due to Covid-19.

“We have withdrawn about 363 children from child marriages with assistance from Community Child Protection Workers and other stakeholders which represent 95 percent achievement of the total verified marriages,” said Nangwale.

Mzimba Social Welfare Office set September 30 as a date to have all children withdrawn from early marriages.

But Nangwale said this has not been met due to the vastness of the district with so many hard to reach areas as well as inadequate financial resources.

Mzimba Social Welfare Office is also providing psychosocial support to the children who have been withdrawn from marriages so that they go and remain in school.

“We are advising parents and traditional leaders to guard children from getting married before the legal marriage age. We are further appealing to different stakeholders to help these children with basic needs and education support in any form,” he said.

Senior chief Mtwalo has, however, expressed concern over lack of coordination amongst players in the exercise.

He said the fight against child marriages in the district cannot be easily won as stakeholders are approaching the issue in isolation.

“Most local structures at grassroots are doing their best to withdraw children from child marriages. But we need to put an extra gear and work as a team so that all child marriages are dissolved,” said Mtwalo.

Gender Coordination Network-GCN and Women’s Legal Resources Centre (WOLREC)  have announced demonstrations slated for this Friday over President Lazarus Chakwera’s failure to include more women in parastatal boards.

The organizations say the demonstrations will be held in all the three cities.

The organizations are dismayed by Chakwera’s sentiments who on Monday challenged women’s rights activists to produce a list of skilled women who qualify to be placed in parastatal boards.

r Chakwera who was responding to questions at a press conference to mark 100 days in the country’s highest office said he should be given more time to include more women on the positions in question.

However, the sentiments have irked the organizations who have since described it as a lame excuse hence writing the Inspector General informing him of their plans to hold peaceful demonstrations on Friday October 9, 2020.

The letter which has been signed by NGO-GCN’s Barbra Banda and WOLREC’s Maggie Kathewera Banda, indicates that the organizations are defending and safeguarding rule of law on the appointments of board members.

“This letter serves to notify you about our intention to hold peaceful demonstrations, against low number of women in many newly appointed boards and no woman in 10 boards.

“This is not only in line with our constitutional right to demonstrate but further it is our duty to defend, safeguard the rule of law. The demonstrations will take place on Friday 9th October, 2020 from 10:00AM to 1:00PM. Demonstrations will be held in Blantyre, Lilongwe and Mzuzu,” reads part of the letter.

The letter indicates that demonstrators in Lilongwe will parade from Kamuzu Central Hospital round about to Parliament while in Blantyre they will parade from old town hall through Chipembere highway to Kamuzu Stadium and in Mzuzu they will parade from Katoto Secondary school ground to Mzuzu city council.

Paramount Chief Kawinga has warned all Yao chiefs in the country that anyone found marrying or impregnating a young girl will be suspended or removed as a chief.

He made the remarks in Dedza yesterday during a Chiwanja cha Yawo event.

The Chief asked all Yao’s to be good examples to other tribes by empowering young girls to go to school and build their good futures.

He Urged parents to be on the forefront in ensuring  that their girls are sailing with their education.

In Malawi, 42% of girls are married before the age of 18 and almost one in 10 are married before their 15th birthday.

According to UNICEF, Malawi has the 12th highest prevalence rate of child marriage in the world.

Inkosi ya Makosi M’mbelwa of Mzimba has taken the battle against child marriages to an advanced stage as he has just terminated three marriages involving minors and handed them to police through his special committee on the elimination of child marriage.

According to a statement from his royal office, the first marriage involved Sydney Nkhata, 20, a standard Seven dropout who married a 17-year-old girl.

The second culprit is Breaker Nyirenda, same age, but a form one dropout who married a 16-year-old.

They are both from Dowera Phiri village in the district.

“It remains my special appeal that as citizens we should continue working together in fighting child marriage because such acts are not only detrimental to the development of the country but also dangerous to the lives of our children.

“While on this point, I am depressed to share a sad story with you all. Last week (16th September 2020) we lost a 14 year old girl who died due to complications after getting married to a 16 year old boy. The two illegally engaged in January 2020. The late was due to deliver on the said date; and due to the said complications, the baby also passed on,” he narrated.

On this matter, the Inkosi said they have handed over to police the parents of the deceased after learning that they silently accepted a cow as part of dowry for the illegal marriage.

The parents also took the expectant girl to traditional midwives instead of the hospital for safe delivery.

The boy then proceeded to illegally marry an 18-year-old girl, a form one drop out.

According to M’mbelwa, the girl has been handed over to police for marrying a minor.

Last month, the Inkosi stripped of Chieftaincy title of Jeremani Mahobe for marrying a minor.

M’mbelwa said he was disheartened to learn that as a leader who is expected to champion the elimination of child marriages, Mahobe was at the forefront doing the opposite.

Government has attributed the rise in teenage pregnancies and child marriages to the closure of schools due to Covid-19.

India, Brazil and South Africa (IBSA) have committed to provide additional financial support towards local initiatives aimed at eliminating child marriages and gender disparities in Malawi, especially in the rural areas.

The ambassadors of the three countries to Malawi made the pledge on Monday in Dedza where UN Women is implementing the pilot Eliminating Child Marriages Project with funding from India, Brazil and South Africa.

The project, which is under implementation in nine additional districts across the country, provides financial and material support to girls who have been withdrawn from marriages to enable them return to school.

And speaking in an interview after interacting with some of the project beneficiaries and other stakeholders, the Indian High Commissioner to Malawi, Anurag Bhushan, said they were impressed with the success the Government of Malawi is registering towards eliminating child marriages.

“Gender issues are always very difficult to tackle. Not only they have socioeconomic challenges, but there are also structural factors. But even then, their impact on their children are very disturbing. But I am very happy that the people of Malawi are tackling these challenges,” said Bhushan.

He said he was generally impressed with the level of community mobilization and participation in the initiatives designed to address the monster.

Bhushan assured that his government will not hesitate to provide additional support to interventions aimed at tackling child marriages and gender disparities.

On the other hand, the South African High Commissioner to Malawi, Prince Sigcau said he would be writing his government to consider provide more financial support to Malawi.

“I have no reason to deny you that support having seen what you are doing to eliminate child marriages in collaboration with local leaders,” said Sigcau.

UN Women Country Representative, Clara Anyangwe, disclosed that the project is supporting a total of 13, 450 girls child marriage survivors in 10 districts in the country with different with different life skills interventions.

Last month, the entity provided scholarships to 750 girls and young women in Dedza and Salima in an effort to keep child marriage survivors in school and to complete their education.

“UN Women has also donated a bicycle to each of the 750 girls and young women to ease mobility challenges they cited as a contributing factor to their dropping out of school.

“Both the scholarships and bicycles have been provided through the Eliminating Child Marriages Project, which is a pilot project being funded by the Indian, Brazilian and South African, IBSA/Facility,” said Anyangwe.

Today in Ntcheu, the chief council is meeting where traditional leaders are banging heads on how to end rising cases of child marriage.

Ntcheu District Social Welfare Officer, Mike Makalande, says, further to this, the district has registered 562 teenage pregnancies in the six months stay-home occasioned by Covid-19.

A survey conducted by the Malawi Girl Guides Association (MAGGA) has established that the number of girls that have been impregnated or got married in Mulanje during the COVID-19 school holiday amounts to 62 early pregnancies and 72 child marriages.

The survey, conducted between Monday 14th September ended on Friday, 18th September, was aimed at all Area Development Committees (ADCs) in the district, as MAGGA Field Facilitator Cosmas Malisero, attributed the particular demographic to to give an opportunity to community leaders to establish drivers and remedies of both early pregnancies and child marriages.

“As you are aware, the ADCs are influential structures in communities where also these girls that have either been impregnated or got into marriages live. We therefore expect these structures to explore causes of both early pregnancies and child marriages and how to eliminate the two,” said Malisero.

Last month, Senior Chief Theresa Kachindamoto, ordered village chiefs to dissolve all the child marriages that took place during the country’s coronavirus lockdown so girls can return to classes upon the reopening of schools. Upon the reopening of (approved) primary and secondary schools on 7 September, the government called on all pregnant and married students to attend classes and sit for national examinations.

Faith leaders, under Evangelical Pastor’s Alliance, have declared that they will hold demonstrations if the ‘abortion’ bill, which is to be tabled in Parliament soon, is passed.

Addressing the media on Monday, the group asserted that they are against the bill to legalise abortion in Malawi.

Salima District Council, with support from World Vision, has embarked on the ‘End Child Marriage’ campaign aimed at terminating marriages of children in the district.

Speaking during the function on Tuesday at Tchuwa School, Senior Chief Kalonga hailed the council’s initiative and World Vision support, saying it would promote education in the district since the young boys and girls would be sent back to school.

Senior Chief Kalonga said it was worrisome to note that some children opted to go into marriage after closure of schools due to COVID-19 pandemic.

“Going by reports that we have received from chiefs and other sources, it shows that many children chose to get married after schools were closed and this is worrisome because we want these children to go back to school and not remain in marriage,” he said.

The chief issued a strong warning to parents and guardians to ensure that all the under-age children are withdrawn from marriages and sent back to school, saying failing to do so would attract unspecified action.

He also urged community and faith leaders from the district to work together with child protection committees from their respective areas in ensuring that children are withdrawn from early marriages.

Statistics from Salima District Hospital indicate that the facility registered about 6,000 teenage pregnancies from January to August, 2020.

Salima District Social Welfare Officer, Fedda Mbwana said her office would do everything possible to see to it that all children in the district are protected from all forms of abuse which include early marriages.

Mbwana said it was the wish of government through the Ministry of Gender to ensure that all children have access to education and that they are protected from abuse.

“We will continue with such initiatives until we see that we have withdrawn all of them from early marriages and that they are readmitted into school so that they get educated and become productive citizens of the country,” she said.

District Manager for World Vision, Thokozani Chibwana said it is the obligation of his organisation to complement government’s efforts in its development agendas, including saving children from early marriages.

He pledged to continue supporting the council in such campaigns when need arises for the betterment of the children’s future.