Councils told to own projects

Minister of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare Patricia Kaliati has asked Lilongwe District Council and others to own projects, saying sustainability of various initiatives has been a major problem in the country.

The minister said this in Lilongwe on Friday during the launch of Technology and Empowerment Enhancing Networks in Safe Spaces (Teens) project.

Kaliati said most projects aim at encouraging girls to remain in school and ending child marriages, teenage pregnancies and violence against women.

She said: “District councils have a lot of ways of finding resources which can help our girls to remain in school. Lilongwe, for example, has major markets where the council collects a lot of revenue through market fees which they can use to support girls to stay in school.”

In her remarks, Deputy Minister of Education Monica Chang’anamuno, who is also Lilongwe North Constituency legislator, agreed with Kaliati, saying girls withdrawn from early marriages need continuous support.

“What happens after girls are back from marriage and to school is what matters. We need to consider the aspect of sustainability for us to move forward,” she said.

The Teens project is being implemented by the United Nations Population Fund and Girls Empowerment Network with funding from the Government of Ireland.

Embassy of Ireland deputy head of mission Diarmuid McClean said the project will be implemented for a year and based on the outcome, more funds will be allocated for an extension.

The project will provide safe spaces of engagement for women and adolescent girls and it will employ new technologies as network and information platforms.

It will be implemented in four traditional authorities in Lilongwe district, namely Tsabango, Chiseka, Kabudula and M’bwatalika in the district.