Through its advocacy for Child Justice and Protection, World Vision Malawi, has expressed commitment to ending more child marriages in the country.
This is according to World Vision Malawi Director of Operations Charles Chimombo who was speaking on Friday December 15, 2023 in Blantyre on the sidelines of a stakeholders engagement meeting for the South Zone.
Chimombo said through the organization’s Child Protection projects, they are implementing initiatives that seeks to helping children to be able to have access to education and he reported that among others they are working with other stakeholders to withdraw more children from early marriages.
The Director of Operations further noted that the challenge is so common and big in most parts of the country, thereby affecting the social and economic development of the country, however, he expressed commitment to putting an extra gear on the noble course.
“We have had this campaign (Child Protection) running for over three or five years. The aim was to ensure that we are helping the children to get out of marriages because that really puts them into risk and danger of not being able to achieve their life in all its fullness.
“So that problem is still there although we have done a lot about it and although we have started a new campaign called ‘Enough Campaign’ aimed at ensuring that children are well nourished, we still continue with the activities that we are doing to help children especially girls to get out of early marriages,” said Chimombo.
He further said getting into early marriage is a very complicated device that speaks about poverty, economic disempowerment, and labelled it as the centre of ignorance in terms of parents in villages and he then wooed stakeholders to join the campaign saying it should not be a one man operation.
“It should be a multi-sectoral approach to be able to do that, including people that are working in private or even in cooperatives to be able to put in their efforts to be able to achieve that. I think the key thing also is to ensure that the children themselves are more aware, especially in schools about the challenges that they would face if they get early into marriage.
“So I would say it is a complicated thing, but it requires a multi-sectoral approach to be able to do that. Even some activities that look far away from the real problem can also be brought in,” he added.
Chimombo further patted his organization on the back for doing great on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), for instance in Chiradzulu district where they are striving to bring safe water to communities and he further mentioned that they have now graduated from doing the hand pumps to running taps.
Speaking on behalf of all other participating stakeholders, Chiradzulu District Commissioner Francis Matewere, commended World Vision Malawi for doing excellent works in their areas of jurisdiction which he said has improved livelihoods in his district and others.
“Let me commend World Vision Malawi for coming to implement and complement efforts that Chiradzulu district council is doing. We have in our plans as well as public sector reform areas, different interventions that we have put in WASH, ending child marriages. We have had marriages that have been terminated, we now have more water points, boreholes as well as toilet units in schools as well as in communities. In general, the livelihood of the communities has improved,” said Matewere.
