Global Health Corps (GHC) Malawi has organised a hackathon aimed at seeking solutions to Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV).
GHC in collaboration with D-Prize launched the hackathon on Monday, 3 April and it is expected to end on Thursday, 6 April with the solutions from the hackathon qualifying to apply for a prize of US$20,000 (over K20 million).
Speaking during the launch at BICC in Lilongwe Ministry of Gender and Social Welfare’s Director of Child Affairs Justin Hamela said the hackathon has come at a right time as the country is struggling with issues of sexual and gender based violence.
He noted that one in every three women in Malawi have experienced SGBV and the issue of child marriage is also on the rise.
According to Hamela, the Ministry of Gender has been raising awareness in communities about SGBV and has been mobilising resource to support survivors of SGBVs.
“I believe that if we work together to challenge the problem of SGBV, we can make Malawi a better place,” said.
One of the panelists, David Njaidi from Disability and HIV AIDS Trust said issues of SGBV are treated as second class issues for persons with disabilities.
“Over 70 percent of persons with disabilities we have interfaced with have reported being sexually abused in their homes or workplaces.
“So we have started advocacy so that cases of persons with disabilities should come out,” said Njaidi.
GHC Malawi country director Simon Simkoko said GHC noticed the challenge of SGBV in Malawi and decided to bring together leaders of various organizations to find solutions that can be implemented to reduce the challenge.
“Through the panel discussions we have had we have seen that SGBV is a huge challenge in Malawi and we hope the hackathon will generate solutions to this challenge,” said Simkoko.
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