A local youth Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) has called on Child Protection and Rights Committees in Nkhotakota to work together in detecting and reporting child abuse.
The call was made by Ntchisi Organisation for Youths and Development (NOYD) Program’s Officer Clement Zindondo during a training workshop for Community and Child Protection Committees drawn from the areas of two Traditional Authorities Mwamsambo and Malengachanzi in the district.
NOYD is implementing a 4 year child protection and participation project in the district which started in 2015.
Zindondo said child protection structures at all levels can easily detect and act on abuses thereby taking action to prevent abuses happening in their respective areas.
He said empowerment is done through advocacy of child rights by children themselves, psychological social support and counselling.
The programs officer added that the project which NOYD is implementing in the district has an objective of reaching out to 2,800 girls with messages of child protection and child rights so that they are able to learn, lead and thrive in airing their voices for them to grow into responsible citizens of their areas.
“The project will also reach out to 2,000 community members to build their capacity on child rights protection mechanisms in the two traditional authorities of Mwamsambo and Malengachanzi in the district,” he said.
Zindondo then called for a conducive environment to end child marriages, child labour, and trafficking so that girls should grow up and realise full potential to better their living standards.
During the workshop, a total of 18 communities from the areas of the two traditional authorities Mwamsambo and Malengachanzi were trained on detecting and reporting child abuses to the relevant authorities.
The training workshop was organised by Ntchisi Organisation for Youths and Development (NOYD) with support from Plan Malawi.
