Religious leaders from traditional authority Mposa in Machinga district have been asked to be including messages of dangers of Gender Based Violence (GBV) in their preaching.
The plea was made during orientation on matters of GBV to faith-based leaders in the area by Partners in Action for Sustainable Development (PASD) and Devoted Youth Action for Change (DYAC) under Tusinde (Let’s change) project.
In an interview, DYAC Chairperson Bester Kankhuni said they want to reach masses through the religious groupings so as to end the practice which is rampant due to various reasons including culture in the area.
“Violence against women and children is rampant in these areas hence we want to reach the people through the religious groupings, we know that these groupings play critical role in as far as mindset change is concerned.
“We have asked these leaders to always consider including messages to do with dangers of GBV in their preaching so that people should change and treat each other equally,” he said.
In his remarks, one of the participants Mufti Hajji Mzee Mussa of Islam commended the two implementing partners for the orientation saying it will help in reducing cases of violence against women and children.
“We never thought of some of these sexual gender-based violence, we will be telling our people from today about dangers of these violence on spiritual and physical part that victims suffer.
“We know some of GBV perpetrators are in our churches and mosques, we won’t get tired of cautioning them, we need to protect our women and girls who are victims in most cases,” said Mussa.
The one and half year project aims at promoting community initiatives for ending harmful practices and sexual gender-based violence against women and girls in T/A Mposa with funding from UN Women.
