Spotlight trains girls’ mentors in Nkhata Bay

Spotlight Initiative, a consortium of partners implementing gender-based violence (GBV) programmes, has trained 15 safe space mentors in psychosocial support in Nkhata Bay District.

Speaking on Thursday at the end of a three-day workshop Girls Empowerment Network (Genet) organised, Spotlight Initiative facilitator Lickson Ng’ambi said the training is targeting young mothers who will in turn counsel young girls to return to school or how to overcome psychological problems.

He, however, bemoaned lack of funds as a setback when implementing such initiatives.

“A comprehensive psychosocial package is taught in seven days, but due to lack of funding, we had to teach it in three days. We hope that when we find funds, we will give them the full package,” said Ng’ambi.

On her part, Genet project coordinator Liz Mazuwa Waya said she was impressed with the passion and commitment the mentors showed towards supporting fellow young girls and young women in their localities.

“We will continue to find more capacity-building opportunities for them so that we reach out to more girls,” she said.

One of the mentors, Glory Mazunda, said she particularly benefitted from the solution box approach in trying to locate key psychosocial issues that girls in her area face.

“The solution box is good because each one of us was able to write down an issue we would not raise. Our facilitators tackled such issues by taking us through the psychosocial process,” she said.

Spotlight Initiative project coordinator John Moyo said they are aware of the funding challenges.

“Nevertheless, we’ll strive to implement the programmes  on the ground,” he said.