Dr.

Mary Shawa
Secretary for Gender, Children, Disability and
Social Welfare
Government of Malawi
 Population - Approximately 16.4 Million
 52 percent women
 46 percent children
 Residence - 85 % rural based
 Women’s Access to Land – 1 Percent
 Women contribute 80 percent of Agriculture
labour
 10 percent Government Budget on Agriculture
(CAADP)
 Joined Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement in
2010 – multi sectoral approach to food and
nutritional security
 Chronic malnutrition at 44 percent
◦ Highest in boys at 0 to 2 percent

 57 percent reach pregnancy in poor

nutritional status
◦ Malnutrition contribute 30 percent to maternal
mortality
Legislation & Policies
 Signatory to International Legal Instruments –
CEDAW, CRC, AU PROTOCOL, SADC
PROTOCOL, VIENA DECLARATION, BEIJING
PLATFORM OF ACTION

 Domestication of legal instruments –

Constitution, MDFR Act (2015), GE Act,
Education Act, CCPJ Act, TIP Act, PDV Act,
Girls Education Strategy, Readmission Policy,
JSSP, MAF
 Policy

 HIV Prevention
◦ Option B+
 Youth Friendly Services

 ART

 Family Planning

 Comprehensive Sexual Education

◦ ICT
 1/5 of childhood sexual abuse; frequent condom
use
 1/7 of childhood physical abuse; frequent
condom use
 1/7 of emotional abuse; frequent condom use
 9/10 women knew where to go for HIV testing
but 2 have never tested
 9/10 men knew where to go for HIV Testing but
3 have never tested
 13 to 17 age female victims; 2/3 knew where to
get tested and 2/3 has never tested
 9/10 of boys knew where to get tested but 7
have never tested
 33% of boys have experienced emotional
abuse compared to 25% of girls before the
age of 18
 44% women have ever experienced
psychosocial violence
 10% of girls who reported violence only 3 %
were assisted
 Of all reported cases, less than 11% were
assisted
 44 % of the abused boys abuse their intimate
partners
 22 % of the abused girls abuse their intimate
partners
 Highest Political Will
◦ He4She Campaign Champion, Higher Education In
Africa Champion, Youth Reproductive Health, and
Ending Child Marriage Champion

 Programs
◦ GEWE, CVSU,VSU, One Stop Centers
 Free Primary Education – 50:50

 adult literacy – 85% women beneficiary

 readmission Policy – Over 600,000 girls

readmitted to schools

 Equal Opportunities - over 650 thousand people

of disabilities

 ECD – 12,000 Centers benefitting 1.4 million

children
 Engendered school curriculum and textbooks

 Implementation of targeted Girls’ Programs

◦ Keeping Girls in Schools: DFID
◦ Because I am a Girl: Plan Malawi
◦ WASH: UNICEF
◦ Teen Mothers
◦ Children's Corners - 3000
 Inadequate knowledge on Multi Sectoral
Approach

 Limited Access to Land at 1 %

 Limited Decision Making at 36 %

 Lack of attention to Girls Nutritional Needs

 10 % poorest quantile

 200 thousand households benefiting over

600,000 individuals
◦ 74 % women
◦ 26 % child headed households
◦ 65% HIV Transmission reduction among girls
◦ 40 percent reduced teenage pregnancy
◦ 38 percent delayed sexual debut
◦ 650,000 OVC assisted with bursaries
 65% girls
 Legal instruments
 Campaigns
 Political commitment
 Multiplier Effect
◦ Improved nutritional status
◦ Health status
◦ Participation in decision making
◦ Increased income
◦ Informed choices on reproduction
 Vast untapped human resource

 Critical for
◦ Reducing poverty
◦ Sustaining economic growth and development
◦ Achieving desired nutritional status
◦ Increased productivity and income levels
◦ Controlled population growth
◦ Attained Food Security
◦ Trigger for change