By Vincent Gunde

A registered Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) which started its interventions in Malawi in 2014, Ujamma Pamodzi Africa, says it is envisioning an empowered society free from violence against women and girls.

The organization said it has a mission of reaching out to every girl and boy and provide them with requisite skills to preventing violence against women and girls through empowering girls to self-defense, and mastering a wide range of abuse avoidance technologies.

It said through Empowerment Transformation Training (ETT) interventions, the organization will provide boys with a gender- based violence prevention and other interventions and sexual assault survivors are taken through a step- by step guide to help them heal from the negative effects of violence they face.

Introducing the project to the District executive committee (Dec) IN Dowa, Ujamma Pamodzi district Project Coordinator Janet Mbawala, said the project has the objective of empowering girls and boys (10-18 years of age) with skills to actively participate in their own protection in eight districts of the country including Dowa.

Mbawala said the project will target learners with special needs to improve access to education in all of its resource centres and children with albinism to know and preventing themselves as well as responding to violence against them.

She said the project among its key deliverables, will train 520 learners (10-19 years) with special needs empowerment transformation in targeted resources centres, train 20 special needs teachers, mobilize and train 100 children with albinism and 100 parents and guardians.

The coordinator said the project has some expected outcomes such as reduced sexual and other forms of violence, boosted public speaking confidence in boys and girls, greater class participation particularly among girls and enhanced reporting of assaults, among others.

“The project will see to it that survivors of violence have access to effective referral pathways and girls and boys with special needs in targeted communities participate in their own protection,” said Mbawala.

In his remarks, Dowa District Council’s Acting Chief Planning Officer Yusuf Laki, called on stakeholders to fully support the project for it to achieve its intended outcomes to fight child abuses in the communities of the district.

Laki advised Ujamma Pamodzi to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the council to enhance cooperation, transparency and accountability and to carry a letter of introduction to the Area Development Committees in the areas of the project’s implementation.

Ujamma Pamodzi Africa will implement the project from August, 2024 to September, 2025 in eight districts such as Lilongwe, Blantyre, Zomba, Mzimba, Ntcheu, Machinga, Kasungu and Dowa with funding from UNICEF amounting to K372,717,817.00 and a budget of K32,612,809.00 is for Dowa alone.