We partnered with Urgent action Fund Africa and Mulanje Youth Organisation in 2023 to Safeguard and protect the rights of young women and girls who have been affected by Cyclone Freddy in Mulanje. The project was responding to reports on how girls and women are being abused by duty bearers, random men and men residing in the camps. The project set safe spaces for over 70 girls and they were equipped with knowledge and information on crucial topics including sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), menstrual hygiene, sexual reproductive health rights, and career guidance. They were also advised to report any cases of GBV and where to report such. Protection committees were also established to safeguard the girls by sorting out any complaints and referring to relevant authorities.

We had an interface meeting with the various stakeholders in T/A Njema which included ADC members, GVHs, CVSU members, Child protection workers, mentors and members from the displacement camps.We also raised awareness about various forms of GBV and their role in safeguarding the rights of children girls and women. We also discussed ways on how we can reduce unchecked and unreported SGBV cases in the camps and community and mapped way forward with recommendations given.

Following our intervention, a majority of beneficiaries became aware of what constitutes SGBV and more importantly, where to report such cases. We found this quite significant because in most rural parts of Malawi some people do not clearly know which actions are categorized as SGBV and where they can report such cases to seek redress. This is a very huge bottleneck in the fight against SGBV and the constant struggle of safeguarding girls’ and women’s rights.

With funding from Onside Gaming Fund under Women Win, EMDEF has collaborated with Rise Together youth organisation since July 2023 upto date in fighting against gender stereotypes through promotion of girls and women in E-sports and gaming in Mzuzu city. For so long, E-sports and gaming community has been male dominated and there has been low involvement of girls and women due to gender stereotypes. This project is therefore being implemented with the aim to increase girls’ involvement in sport and thereby improving their digital skills, thinking capacity and decision-making skills in the process. We therefore formulate gaming clubs for girls and a few boys, train female coaches among the club members and organise gaming sessions and some of the games that are offered include FIFA, Mortal Kombat, Need for speed etc. This sporting activity also gives boys and girls space to discuss various social issues that they face, affect their lives and identify possible solutions together. Also gaming tournaments are conducted regularly to enhance the gamers skill development, build their competition skills, enable the outstanding gamers win prizes and expose them to esports career opportunities.

We conducted research at the beginning of the project in 2023 to learn about the perceptions of various stakeholders on involvement of girls in Esports and gaming and these included girls, boys, parents/guardians, sports officers at district level.

We successfully established 4 gaming clubs at Mzuzu technical College, Mchengautuba CDSS and also in Nkhorongo community and these clubs have provided safe and supportive environments for girls to explore and enjoy gaming.

We have also organized 3 local gaming tournaments that over 200 people joined and enjoyed. These tournaments helped players feel more confident and showed their skills to more people.

About 60 girls have gained confidence, made new friends, and found new career opportunities through our gaming programs. These successes show the positive impact of our work.

Since Covid-19 pandemic started in 2020 and schools were closed for over 5 months, the area registered over 300 cases of school drop outs, unintended pregnancies among school girls and also early marriages over the period. With Financial support from Urgent Action Fund-Africa, we were able to hold interface meetings with various stakeholders in the area which includes local chiefs, the T/A, school management committee, mother group committee, parents & guardians to find long lasting solutions to ending Child marriages in the area. We drafted bylaws to penalize those involved in child marriages and school dropouts and also interventions to support survivors of child marriages back to school.

From the 70 school dropout that we managed to identify, 64 were able to report back to school in January to September 2022 academic year. This was as a result of a community sensitisation and empowerment sessions that we had and was welcomed by both parents and community leaders.

We had a campaign which helped to increase awareness and knowledge among parents, guardians and leaders on the consequences of forced and voluntary early marriages.