As Malawi is observing the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence, there are calls for the country to rethink its strategies on ending child marriages and teenage pregnancies.
Deputy Director for child affairs in the ministry of gender, children, disability and social affairs Justin Hamera says the country continues to face challenges in the area.
Hamera also admits the ministry is grappling with such cases saying “every time we do assessments, the numbers are not encouraging.”
According to Hamera the cases rose to record levels during the Covid pandemic lockdowns where around 20,000 girls got married within the period of three months.
An assessment on teenage pregnancies also disclosed that about 45,000 girls got pregnant within the three months.
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“That remains almost the same with statistics we get from councils indicating the numbers are indeed on the increase. We therefore need to rethink our approach to problems that teenagers are facing,” Hamera says.
He says the Ending Child Marriage Strategy the ministry launched is one of the initiatives guiding the country on how to modify some harmful traditional practices.
Hamera says authorities are engaging traditional and religious leaders to influence behaviour change in their spheres of influence.
“But we also want to engage more with the adolescents themselves because most times, they are influenced by their peers with some girls going into sexual relationships just because their friends are doing it and are getting good things such as smart phones,” Hamera says.
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Thandizolathu Kadzamira is Senior Technical Advisor on Child Protection at Save the Children and agrees there is need to rethink strategies to address the challenge of child marriages and teen-age pregnancies.
“First of all, we have social norms and religious beliefs which are still contributing to teenage pregnancies and child marriages. Apart from that, poverty in Malawi is still a big problem and we find that marriage is most of the times looked at as a solution to poverty.
“This is why we need to work together, so that there is mindset change to address these challenges,” Kadzamira says.
Sheikh Amir Jaafar Kawinga is an advocate for gender justice in Malawi.
Kawinga says child marriages and teenage pregnancies can also be addressed through the use of role models.
“We need to work together in the promotion of girls and young women who are doing better in life, so that the teenage girls can see for themselves how education and hard work can transform their lives,” Kawinga says.
Apart from poverty, recent studies also show that most of the countries which are hotspots of climate change, are also hotspots in terms of child marriage.
“So, you will find that when there are disruptions such as floods, droughts, due to climate change, the negative coping mechanism is for affected families or households to force their daughters into marriage,” Kadzamira says.
To deal with the cases however, girls themselves have to actively participate.
Eighteen-year-old Deborah Mulichi of Akada village in the area of traditional authority Makwangwala in Ntcheu, joined the fight against child marriages over a year ago.
Deborah says she was given a chance to pitch her idea with Save the Children on how to encourage girls and boys to continue with their education.
Through her ‘positive vibes, empowering teens to overcome peer pressure initiative, Deborah received MK2.5 million from Save the Children to tackle sexual relationships, a leading factor to teenage pregnancies in her area.
“My idea was for funds to boost operations of and make the local telecentre at Bilira more accessible for the youth to learn computer lessons after classes. Since then, the 35 targeted girls are now busy with their education and are doing well in class,” Deborah says.
Child marriages are mostly rooted in social and patriarchal attitudes that devalue girls and women making them more vulnerable to early marriages than their male counterparts.
