Girls Empowerment Network (GENET) has conducted a three-day empowerment and leadership training for girls in Dowa, Malawi.
Development Diaries gathered that the Summer Camp training, a component of the Nkhanza Toto Project, attracted about 100 girls.
The training was designed to equip the girls with the skills to create a sustainable women-led movement against gender-based violence (GBV) in their communities.
Available data shows that only 58.5 percent of schoolchildren in Malawi finish the first four years of primary education, and studies indicate that girls across the country at all levels of education are at higher risk of dropping out of school than boys.
Major human rights violation in the country, according to UNFPA, include violence against women and girls, with heightened vulnerability in humanitarian crises; lack of information on sexual and reproductive health and rights or access to these services, especially for young people.
GENET Nkhanza Toto Project Officer, Tassie Chirwa, said there was a need for the girls to seek their rights by challenging the patriarchy system.
‘After this camp, we expect our girls will be able to be self-confident, demand justice and this is our expectation’, she said.
The organisation said in a Facebook post that the training was a life changing event and experience for the ‘champions of change’.
‘We are wishing them all the very best as they are working towards their goals, dreams and aspirations while inspiring their peers to make a change, and be the change they want to see in their communities’, the Facebook post read.
GENET promotes girls and young women’s rights, inclusive education, skills and leadership development, entrepreneurship, and economic freedom of marginalised girls and young women.
Sources: Girls Empowerment Network UNFPA
Photo source: Girls Empowerment Network
