Ending child marriage and improving health outcomes: Lessons from Malawi

It is by reading such reports, we can learn newer skills and/or approaches to adopt in our environment.It is with respect to that I found the report “Ending Child Marriage in Malawi: Girls Empowerment Network & Let Girls Lead” useful as it has revealed the power in meaningful capacity building, mobilisation, engagement and advocacy.The report […]

It is by reading such reports, we can learn newer skills and/or approaches to adopt in our environment.
It is with respect to that I found the report “Ending Child Marriage in Malawi: Girls Empowerment Network & Let Girls Lead” useful as it has revealed the power in meaningful capacity building, mobilisation, engagement and advocacy.
The report had provided some insight into the crises of child marriage in Malawi which provided justification for intervention. It observed that In Malawi, “child marriage is a widespread problem – nearly 50% of girls are married by age 18, with girls often marrying as young as age 10.
Child marriage prevents girls from finishing school, and often leads to early pregnancy, exposure to HIV/AIDS, and high risk of maternal mortality. Child marriage rates are far higher in rural areas than in cities, as villages more commonly adhere to traditional practices, which include early marriage and sexual cleansing initiation rites.”
Let me quickly add that apart from exposure to HIV and maternal mortality, pregnancy at an early age also exposes young girls to prolonged/obstructed labour which could lead to a Vesico- Vaginal Fistula.
It is an abnormal connection between the bladder (vesico) and the vagina that allows the continuous involuntary discharge of urine from the vagina.  In addition to the medical problems from the fistula, it has a profound effect on the patient’s emotional well-being. Young girls that are unfortunate to suffer VVF are often neglected and stigmatised by the same society that marry them before reaching full maturity.
The report observed that in 2011 the Girls Empowerment Network (GENET) in 2011 partnered with Let Girls Lead a project of Public Health Institute to launch the Stop Child Marriage program in the Chiradzulo District in Southern Malawi. The project engaged girls, community members, chiefs and traditional authorities, and the media in the fight to end child marriage and harmful traditional practices in the region.
An evaluation that was commissioned by the UN Foundation had found out that the GENET’s community-based approach had sharply decreased the incidence of early marriage and increased girls’ school enrolment rates in Malawi.
Over 200 girls in the district were mobilised and joined the Stop Child Marriage project, helping them to think critically about child marriage and develop their own solutions to the challenges they faced. The girls used art, poetry, and creative writing to capture and share their experiences, focusing on education, cultural practices, and marriage.
The girls highlighted early sexual debut, child marriage, pressure to drop out of school, and domestic violence as their principal challenges, and met in groups to discuss what they had written. GENET trained the girls in leadership, advocacy, and public speaking so they could present the publication to the community and share their experience with traditional and government leaders. GENET then published a compilation of these girls’ stories to share with policy makers, traditional leaders, and Members of Parliament.
I am impressed with the approach of GENET which engaged the girls but also strategically engaged the media from the launch of the project, recognizing that sharing girls’ personal stories would sensitize community members, government decision-makers, and the public to the harmful impacts of child marriage.
GENET’s first video, called “The Story of Florence & Harmful Traditional Practices in Malawi,” shares the experiences of one of the girls who participated in the Stop Child Marriage project. By strategically engaging local and national media, GENET also increased public awareness of child marriage and its negative consequences throughout Malawi and the world.
Ending child marriage would require government leaders and traditional authorities to take action as had been recognised by GENET. Using the media and storytelling tools they developed, GENET organized local and national policy dialogues with decision makers, which generated support from national lawmakers, and led to a key alliance with traditional leaders.
Building on their girl-centred advocacy and media outreach, GENET worked with traditional leaders and a group of village chiefs to develop local bylaws that prohibit child marriage and penalize men who engage in the practice. GENET then sent the bylaws to the community to review and approve, and shared the results with district-level and national government decision-makers.
The impact of the project was remarkable as within the first year of GENET’s Stop Child Marriage project, chiefs from 22 villages’ ratified bye laws that protect thousands of girls from early marriage. GENET also empowered over 200 adolescent girls to advocate for their rights, and sensitized traditional leaders and district level decision-makers on the negative effects of child marriage.
In conclusion what this report revealed to us was the power of advocacy, empowering young girls to identify their talents, strength and challenges and voice out their stories. It also revealed the usefulness of meaningful engagement with stakeholders which are capable of changing the fate of young girls in Africa and beyond.
All comments to Dr Aminu Magashi at [email protected]