Machinga DC touts children’s corners

Machinga district commissioner (DC) Rosemary Nawasha has said children’s corners play a crucial role in the development of children.

The DC made the remarks on Wednesday in Traditional Authority Mlomba in the district when she opened a training for 50 caregivers in effective management of children’s corners. 

She said: “Through children’s corner platforms, children are given total care, support and protection.

“Again, children raise issues that are important to them through the platforms.”

Nawasha has since urged caregivers to put the knowledge and skills gained during the training into practice.

“Realising the need to build caregivers’ capacities, the council, in its district development plans, has put in place a skills development strategy for children service providers,” she said.

A caregiver from group village head Nyanya, Simplex Nakwale, said he was pleased with the skills he acquired during the training.

“The skills will help me support the children better. Previously, it was hard for me to deliver lessons,” he said

Machinga District assistant social welfare officer Lawrence Matiti said as of 2019, the district had 851 untrained caregivers out of the total 1 428 caregivers.

There are 534 community-based child care centres where 39 870 children access early childhood development services in the district.

The training was supported by the United Nations Children’s Fund.