By Dean Chisambo
Action Aid has launched their four year country strategic plan paper targeting women, children and youths empowerment in order to achieve social justice and gender equality in this country.
Speaking during the strategy launch on Thursday in Lilongwe, Action Aid Malawi Board Chairperson Grace Mkupu said their mission is to achieve social justice, gender equality and to eradicate poverty for people who are excluded
Mkupu also said the strategy has got three priority areas that it will focus on women’s rights.
According to Mkupu, revealed that in women’s rights, the projects are going to deal with gender violence, promoting women to participate in decision making forums and also empowering women in worth creation .
She further added that they will provide small grants which help them to do business and also they have programmes to take care of girls who have been married early to go back to school.
In her remarks Minister Of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare Jean Sendeza hailed strategy saying the government through her ministry will have the policies and the programmes to complement what the Action Aid is doing.
Sendeza said that the strategy will be addressing issues of gender equality, women economic empowerment and even social protection of the society.
According to Sendeza the paper is complementing well with government strategy in line with the Malawi 2063 agenda which is covering the issue of poverty reduction , even the economic growth .
She said,” the strategy paper with the government efforts are all collaborating well and are speaking to each other in the same tune.”
Sendeza lamented that what is needed is implementation because they can have strategies on paper but there is no action or implementation, then they are just having themes on paper but not on ground.
Sendeza highlighted that the other issue that the paper is talking about is localization that has been mentioned all the time and Action Aid is not leaving anyone behind hence what they are doing is to sustain their activities, protests , programmes and empowering local organizations.
The strategy paper number six will run from 2024 to 2028 and Action Aid has pumped in K38 billion to implement the strategy. However they are also looking forward to assist women to contest in 2025 tripartite election in different hot seats.
The Country Strategy Paper VI is established under the theme: ” Transforming Systems For Social Justice.”
