Lilongwe 1 July MANA: The First Lady Madame Monica Chakwera has called upon Malawian women in leadership positions of international organisations, Civil Society Organisations, Private and public Sector to promote girl child education in the country, saying the plight of our nation rests in the hands of hundred of girls in need of help.
The first lady was speaking at Kamuzu palace in Lilongwe on Friday during a women in leadership networking breakfast.
“One of the reasons I wanted to interact with all of you today was to make a simple request ,would you please join me to turn the tide of early child marriages in Malawi by making sure that our girls stay in school,” said Chakwera.
According to the first lady, statistics indicate that about 50% of Malawian girls get married before the age of 18 with 9% getting married before the age of 15. This she said was fuelling population growth rate, exposing women and girls to poverty and gender based violence.
“Great things happen when women work together! Great things happen when there is unity of purpose, unity of spirit and unity of mind! Let me call upon all the Malawian women in leadership position to help one or two girls, either financially or through mentorship so that together we change the status quo,” she said.
In her remarks, Deputy Chief Executive Office for NBS Bank, Temwani Simwaka, said the Bank thought of joining the first lady in her noble course as one way of ensuring that every girl has an opportunity to further their education.
“We have a lot of girls out there in need of financial help and mentorship, it is an obligation for everyone to help our country by helping these young girls,” said Simwaka.
Simwaka then urged the private sector to support girls education through the First lady’s Shape Our Future Foundation as part of their social cooperate responsibility.
Among the notable figures at the breakfast network was the Minister of Foreign Affairs Nancy Tembo and Professor Address Malata from Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST) who gave a speech on how she has supported girls’ education in the country.
