ActionAid Malawi donates bikes to Police, Gender Ministry

ActionAid Malawi (AAM) on Monday, 22^nd January, donated 148 Mountain Bicycles to Malawi Police Service (MPS) and Ministry of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare.

Out of these, 126 bicycles went to (MPS) while Gender Ministry got 22.

Purchased with funding from UNICEF under the ‘Safe Schools’ project, the bicycles are expected to ease transport challenges that police officers in lower police formations and child protection workers face when following up on child violence cases in the project’s impact districts of Machinga, Dedza, Lilongwe, Mzimba and NkhataBay.

Speaking during the handover ceremony in Lilongwe, AAM Executive Director, Grace Malera, said AAM decided to purchase the bikes following the recent project evaluation exercise that showed limited mobility among police units and child protection workers as the major challenge facing project implementation.

“We, therefore, hope this donation will go a long in easing mobility challenges among the police units and child protection workers so that they effectively respond to cases of violence that children face in schools and communities,” she said.

Speaking after receiving the donation on behalf of MPS, Assistant Superintendent Alexander Ngwala thanked AAM for the donation, saying the bicycles will be important in raising community awareness and strengthening referral pathways in the fight against children in schools.

“As Police, we are championing One School One Police Officer campaign. However, we have been having challenges to implement the campaign due to lack of mobility among most of the police, especially those working in the communities.

“We are, therefore, grateful to ActionAid for this timely donation to Malawi Police and I would like to assure them that the bicycles will be used for intended purpose,” said Ngwala.