community-based interventions in the fight against child marriage in Malawi
2019-2023
Overview
In 2019, Firelight was funded by the Pathy Family Foundation for five years to support a dedicated cluster of community-based grantees to work with their communities to explore their perceptions and understandings of child marriage as well as its local root causes and to work together with those communities to reduce its demand, appeal and occurrence.
Malawi has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world, with approximately 1 in 2 girls married by the age of 18. According to UNICEF 2016 statistics, 46% of girls get married before the age of 18 and this places the country at number 11 on international rankings of child marriage prevalence.
In 2020, Firelight identified a cluster of five grantee-partners who would be supported by Firelight to –
Explore the root causes of child marriage in their community
Engage communities to explore their own perceptions of girls’ rights, parenting and child marriage
Map the relevant root causes, stakeholders and systems drivers
Run holistic, multi-faceted, community-driven and community-actioned programs to address the root causes of child marriage
Engage families, parents, adolescent girls and communities (including community leaders) in the fight against child marriage
Engage with critical government stakeholders to strengthen the systems that prevent and address child marriage
Our collective goals for this initiative are –
To give capacity to a cluster of community-based organizations to empower their communities and critical stakeholders to address child marriage
As a result, to see increased community awareness around and sustained action against child marriage
To learn what works and what does not in sustaining reductions in child marriage in Africa
To achieve reductions in child marriage in the areas in which our grantees were working
To document a model of support for community-based approaches to the fight against child marriage for adaptation and replication
Objectives
Build the capacity of a cluster of between four and six CBOs in Malawi to catalyze community-driven, girl-centered solutions that address the key drivers that contribute to child marriage.
Support a cluster of CBOs to partner with communities and critical stakeholders (including girls, parents, governments) to advocate for and institute systematic changes in policies, practices, and social norms to reduce child marriage locally.
Document the learnings, activities and programs from the cluster for analysis, adaptation and possible replication.
Target Group: Community Based Organisations
Envisioned Changes:
Strengthened capacity to engage families and communities to fight child marriages
Strengthened capacity to advocate for systemic change
Strengthened capacity to involve girls and other critical stakeholders in fighting child marriages
Strengthened capacity in their own organizational systems
As a result of strengthened CBO capacity and CBOs’ engagement with their communities and critical stakeholders, we envision the following changes among the girls, families, communities and government
Increased awareness of and action to protect girls’ rights in communities where child marriage is currently practiced
Critical stakeholders from adolescent girls to community leaders to parents empowered to protect girls’ rights and prevent child marriage
Better systems, policies, actions and norms supported by families, girls, community leaders and governments to prevent and respond to child marriage
Reductions in child marriage and the drivers that lead to it
A demonstrated model of support for community-driven solutions in the fight against child marriage
Target Group: Adolescent girls
Envisioned Changes: Reducing child marriage has a major impact on girls’ welfare and rights.
During the time of Firelight’s engagement with CBOs in our proposed grantee cluster, we expect to see and track fundamental child marriage rates but also qualitative changes in girls, such as -
Girls have an awareness of and the personal and collective empowerment to claim their rights
Girls have information and power to make positive decisions that affect their lives and reduce their chance of child marriage –such as staying in school, advocating to their parents for support, seeking a vocational career
Girls have advocates in the community and trusted adults and peers they can talk to and get support from before/during/after a child marriage occurs
Girls have financial literacy to enable them to become financially independent in order to avoid the frequent financial pressures to marry as a child or to recover from a child marriage if they have been a victim
Girls develop confidence and self-esteem to prevent child marriage directly in their home of family environment or to engage other stakeholders in the community to prevent child marriage
Girls develop leadership skills and are empowered to advocate for change in local, district or national policies and social norms that negatively affect them
Target Group: Families
Envisioned Changes:
Parents who know about the rights of children and their role in upholding these rights
Open communication between parents and children on issues that affect children
Positive action on the part of families to reduce child marriage rates
Target Group: Communities
Envisioned Changes:
Communities that are able to put in mechanisms and systems to protect girls from child marriages
Communities who are able to advocate and lobby for gender-sensitive laws or budgeting that protect girls from child marriages
Target Group: Government
Envisioned Changes:
Government stakeholders at the local, district and national level are more aware of their legal obligation to prevent child marriage
Government stakeholders are more responsive to the drivers of and instances of child marriage
Grantee-Partner Details
1.Golomoti Active Aids Support Organization (GASO)
Organization description
Golomoti Active AIDS Support Organization (GASO) started in 2003 as a not-for-profit community-based organization working in Dedza area covering 18 senior group village heads with 360 villages having a population of over 100,000 people. The aim then was to respond to HIV/AIDS and other social development issues in its impact area. Since its inception in 2003, GASO has implemented programmes, projects and activities in the following areas: HIV/AIDS Prevention and Behaviour change, Education and Early Childhood Development (EECD), Youth Development and Participation, Governance, Agriculture and Food Security, Gender, Human Rights and Child Protection, Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights, Environment and Climate Change.
Why Firelight Chose this partner
The CBO is grounded in the community.The founder member who is the current Director has groomed young adults who are actively involved in the organization.They have a clear succession plan and the Director is already grooming the future leaders. They are passionate about working with children and work with key stakeholders in the government particularly the Ministry of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare.2.
2. Ufuluwathu (UFW)
Organization description
Ufuluwathu (our rights) is a community-based organization that was established by the people from the communities of Senior Chief Nazombe in 2005. The organization was formed with the aim to represent people to fight the social injustice that perpetuate poverty among the poor, excluded and vulnerable groups of people.
Ufuluwathu was established to work with the people of Nazombe and Nkhulambe. Through networking with other CBOs, it has extended its services to other 6 villages. Their main area of focus is advocating for women rights, advocating for child rights, youth empowerment and tax justice campaigns.
Why Firelight Chose this CBO
The CBO has passionate members who have been part of the CBO from the time it was started. All the members who are currently working at the organization are volunteering. They have been supporting activities in the communities using their own resources. This speaks to the passion that the members have about supporting their community. They have mobilized their community members including traditional leaders to support the vulnerable children in the community. They have worked with children to stand up for their rights in schools. They work closely with the judiciary system on violations against children. They have a board that is very committed and engaged with the work of the organization.
3. Tikondwe
Organization description
Tikondwe is a community-based organization that operates in senior traditional authority Malemia in Zomba district. The organization was formed in 2000 with an intention to promote basic quality life of youth, women and children by reducing the rate of HIV/IADS infections among them and support the needy in 36 villages in Zomba. Tikondwe works towards promoting education for adolescent girls and teen mothers through back to school campaigns and also combating child marriages.
Why Firelight Chose this CBO
Tikondwe is passionate about issues of children. With this proposal, Tikondwe will be building on the work they have been doing for the past nineteen years in addressing social issues affecting children putting emphasis on ending child marriage. They have youthful members who are also involved in the implementation of activities. They have experience working directly with adolescent boys and girls. They have managed to mobilize resources to support the work that they do. They work closely with different stakeholders in their community and even involve traditional leadership in their programs.
4. NANCHOLI
Organization description
Nancholi CBO was established in 2005 and is located in Mangochi District. The CBO’s goal is to be a service provider that facilitates and strengthens the capacity of families and communities in solving day to day problems affecting their lives through self-initiated projects in areas of emotional, social, economic, psychological and physical problems. One of the key problems which is rampant in the catchment area is child marriages due to harmful cultural practices such as initiation ceremonies. There is also high incidence of men who leave the community to go and work in South Africa. Families with young girls force them to get married to the men who would have gone to South Africa. This would ensure that the families receive goods from South Africa. Nancholi is operating at 15 villages, 3 primary schools and 1 secondary school
Why Firelight Chose this CBO
Nancholi has a history of working with Firelight as they started an ECD program with support from Firelight through NACC. The group is grounded in the community. The chief in the area that the CBO works in is passionate about issues of children particulary ending child marriages. The members of the group who are volunteering as officers take their responsibilities seriously. The Treasurer for example uses a manual systems but can clearly articulate the processes for accounting for funds from the time funds are received until they have been used and have been reported on. They take pride in the work they do.
5. KADYALUNDA
Organization description
Kadyalunda CBO is located at Kadyalunda Village in Balaka district. It was established in 2007 to work with communities in addressing issues of vulnerable groups such as the elderly, people with disabilities, children, women and people living with HIV and AIDs. The mission Kadyalunda CBO is to protect and promote the welfare of the vulnerable people so that they become active participants and self-reliant. The CBO is combating child marriages in its operating area.
Why Firelight Chose this CBO
This CBO is grounded in the community. They have members who are volunteering at the CBO as officers and have been doing this for many years. They have strong connections with the different stakeholders in their community.
What impact are we seeing so far?
Although we are still capturing learnings from this initiative, early observations and feedback indicate that there is already significant transformation happening in communities who have embraced community-driven systems change to end child marriages.
Some of the changes we are seeing at the CBO and community level include the following –
· There is increased collaboration among CBOs and child protection workers at community level to proactively prevent child marriage cases from taking place rather than reacting when they have already taken place. Key stakeholders are working to address root causes rather than symptoms.
· Traditional leaders who are the gatekeepers and custodians of culture at community level are taking a leading role in enforcing by-laws that prohibit child marriages. They are working very closely with other stakeholders in the community to raise awareness amongst parents on the dangers of child marriages and also supporting survivors of child marriages.
· The awareness raising campaigns at different forums in the community have paid off as cases of child marriages have reduced in the communities.
· Increased awareness on sexual reproductive health targeting the youth has led to a reduction in pregnancy cases that ultimately result in child marriages.
· CBOs and communities are realizing and leveraging the strength found when working collaboratively and in synergy with other stakeholders. Government child protection workers noted that in 2020 – back when they weren’t collaborating with communities, there were more than 1,000 cases of child marriage in the catchment areas. However, as they began collaborating with community stakeholders, they had more timely insight into what was happening at the community level, and this collaborative work to prevent child marriages has enabled the number of cases to drop to about 10 in early 2022. (We also know that child marriages increased during the pandemic, so the decrease since then may not be only due to increased collaboration, but government and community stakeholders do see a huge difference in the way they work together and the impact they have been able to make in preventing child marriages from happening.)
· CBOs and community groups have been increasingly shifting from a ‘charity’ approach – where they do things for the community, to a ‘solidarity’ approach – where they partner with the community and empower the community to address their own issues in an ongoing way. One example is of a Mothers’ Group that was working with one of our CBO partners. They previously used to make sanitary pads using locally available materials and distribute them to vulnerable families with school-aged girls, so that they don’t miss school during their menstrual cycles. After a while, they were exhausted since the demand was high, they ran out of raw materials, and the few members of Mothers’ Group could not meet the community’s needs. So, they realized the better way to do it is to teach families how to make sanitary pads on their own for their girls rather than distributing ready-made sanitary pads.
· Community stakeholders from different communities are learning from and supporting one another. In one CBO’s catchment area, they have strengthened their community structures to the extent that their child marriage and pregnancy cases are highly reduced. The surrounding communities (out of catchment area) are wanting to replicate this and have asked the CBO for support in strengthening their community structures as well in order to fight child marriages successfully.
· We are also seeing changes in how governments are doing things. The Ministry of Gender, Community Development and Children Affairs in Malawi were impressed by the community dialogues conducted by the partners and as a result they organized a National Dialogue where they brought different government stakeholders from national level to learn from the communities so that policies are informed by realities on the ground.
We have also been reflecting on key learnings thus far, including –
· The community-driven systems change approach is effective and powerful in involving all key stakeholders right from the start. All key stakeholders are involved in identifying drivers of child marriages and prioritizing solutions. This helps to build on already existing community strengths and home-grown solutions.
· Involvement of CBOs in identifying their own capacity strengths and gaps ensures that the capacity strengthening is tailor-made to suit the unique needs of each CBO, and draws on existing strengths within the cluster.
· Involving different government ministries in the initiative allows them to understand how CBOs and communities are developing and carrying out actions in a participatory way – and when they see the value in participatory approaches, they integrate them into their own work.
· Community-driven systems change cannot be rushed; adequate time is needed to make sure that all stakeholders, CBOs and communities are working together at the same pace.
· CBO partners are operating in a complex environment in which other key players such as INGOs have been implementing more paternalistic and top-down approaches, and shifting attitudes/ expectations/ practices among communities, government, and civil society is a continuous work in progress.