Transformational empowerment of adolescent marginalised girls in Malawi

• In Event: The Washington group questions and leave no girl behind: measuring disability prevalence among out-of-school adolescent girls in sub-Saharan Africa

Proposal

Transformational Empowerment of Adolescent Marginalised Girls in Malawi or TEAM Girl Malawi operates in all educational zones in two rural (Dedza and Mchinji) and one urban (Lilongwe) district in Malawi’s Central Western region. It targets 5,000 girls, aged 10–19, who are extremely marginalised from education. Specifically, TEAM focuses on reducing barriers to education for girls who are married or young mothers, girls who experienced abuse and violence, and those constrained by the burden of household chores and income. TEAM recognises that disability is a factor which can make girls more vulnerable to these barriers, and that girls with disabilities require focused interventions to support them to overcome the barriers and participate fully in education. TEAM balances meeting the urgent needs of target girls with addressing systemic barriers to education, in particular those created by gender, social inclusion, and power inequalities.
Whilst social marginalisation is deep rooted and pervasive in Malawi, there is increasing traction for change with a ban on child marriage and community shifts, for example, traditional leaders in Dedza returning girls to school and schools becoming more inclusive in their improvement planning. Innovative, participatory methodologies, in which marginalised people take the lead in influencing community norms, are proven to be successful in transforming attitudes towards girls’ education, and TEAM will extend this approach to address extreme marginalisation factors, including disability. The project will improve access to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) information and services and reduce stigma in communities. Building the capacity of the child protection system at a local, district and national level is central to the design.
Whilst TEAM will not attempt widespread poverty reduction, it will reduce economic marginalisation through providing free centres of education, and embedding financial literacy, micro-business / vocational training and loan provision for girls and their families.
To address educational marginalisation, TEAM will reactivate Complementary Basic Education (CBE) centres in 40 communities and train local facilitators (at least 50% female) to create classes appropriate for highly marginalised youth. TEAM will use the National Education Standards and the School Review process (developed by Link and now adopted into Ministry of Education policy), as well as training school leaders and teachers on gender-sensitive, inclusive, child-centred pedagogies, stronger literacy and numeracy teaching techniques and child protection, to create 40 safe, inclusive primary schools. It will train 40 female Agents of Change teachers to provide psychosocial counselling and sexual & reproductive health & rights education to in and out of school girls. Communities will play a central role in delivering accountability of strengthened, gender and inclusion aware School Improvement Plans which commit schools to meet the needs of all their students.
TEAM will use the Washington Group Questions during beneficiary selection to understand the prevalence of disability among the target population of out-of-school adolescent girls. Data on participating girls’ marginalisation factors will be analysed to support girls to select their pathways into education and employment, and to tailor project interventions to enable girls with disabilities to benefit fully from their chosen pathway.

Author

• Kate Sykes, Link Community Development International