By:Yankho Maunjiri
Power to Youth has emphasized on the need to include the youth in decision making.
Program Coordinator for Power to Youth Program Thandizo Mphwiyo said this after Centre for Human Rights Rehabilitation (CHRR) through Power to Youth Program with funding by Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs conducted a 2 days orientation to youths from different TA’s of Dedza district on harmful practices.
Mphwiyo said what they want to achieve is to ensure that youths are well engaged and empowered to claim for their rights.
She further said their role will be to monitor human rights violations and inform mitigating strategies.
“The unique thing about Power to Youth Program is that we are involving the youth themselves, youths are at the centre of implementation of any initiative”, said Mphwiyo.
She said for example the composition of Community Victim Support Unit’s (CVSU’s) doesn’t have youths in it yet the youths are the ones facing a lot of challenges.
Mphwiyo added to say that these CVSU’s are not youth friendly which makes is hard for the youth to report the challenges they face.
She said most youth in Malawi are facing a lot of Gender Based Violence, with harmful practices that are affecting their welfare and contributing to a lot of teen pregnancies and child marriages.
” We are targeting them so that they start questioning some of these social norms”, concluded Mphwiyo.
Some of the youths who participated in the orientation, Juliet Kulima from Traditional Authority Tambala and William Charles from Traditional Authority Kasumbu said the orientation is an eye opener and it will help them to identify and report the abuses that take place in their communities.
