By Solister Mogha

Zomba, August 6, Mana:  First Lady, Monica Chakwera has called on Civil Society Organizations and other partners to support girls’ education saying her organization ‘Shaping Our Future Foundation’ is already committed to girls’ education as this is key to Malawi's development growth.

Speaking on Tuesday in Zomba during the opening of Shaping Our Future Foundation’s 2024 Girls Empowerment Retreat, Madam Chakwera said she was saddened with the increasing numbers of girls dropping out of school due to lack of support and other social factors.

“My dream is to educate and empower girls in school so that they achieve their dreams and become self-reliant. As a foundation, we are committed to supporting all girls but we may not reach out to all, hence our call for your support,” said Madam Chakwera as she called on partners to come in with support.

She added that Malawi Vision 2063 recognizes human capital as one of the enablers and as such, investing in girls’ education could spur the country's development growth.

“By educating a girl child, we can educate the whole nation. I therefore appeal to all partners in and outside Malawi to help our girls who have big dreams but are faced with various challenges," she said.

The First Lady has also urged traditional leaders to take lead in promoting girls education by condemning some traditional practices that frustrate girls’ advancement in education, observing that traditional and cultural norms and gender based violence are some of the contributing factors to the girls’ failure to pursue their education.

She therefore encouraged girls attending the retreat to remain focused and work hard in school to achieve their desired dreams.

Minister of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare, Jean Sendeza said girls’ education meet a lot of challenges that need collective efforts to address the hiccups.

The minister therefore hailed the First Lady for coming up with the foundation which she said is helping out girls to advance in their education.

“It is the wish of our ministry to see more girls complete their education and we are very grateful to the foundation,” Sendeza said.

Executive Director for Girls Education Trust, Dr. Limbikani Kamlongera said the trust intends to expand their support initiative so that more girls are supported, adding that girls education continue to meet numerous obstacles but with concentrated efforts, a lot can be achieved.

Meanwhile, University of Malawi pledged to play a complimentary role in supporting girls’ education by mainstreaming gender in its academic programmes to ensure equal opportunities for girls to pursue tertiary education.

Dr. Mufunanji Magalasi who represented the UNIMA Registrar said the college is working tirelessly to ensure 50:50 intakes of students, giving girls equal opportunity for higher education.

Shape Our Future Foundation held its first girls retreat in 2022 at African Bible College in Lilongwe, the second was at Mzuzu University in 2023 and the UNIMA retreat became the third edition.

During the four days retreat which has 150 secondary school students from the southern region, will provide opportunity for girls to hear motivation talks from ladies from various professions that will act as role models.

Before she opened the girls’ retreat, the First Lady toured pavilions by partners that support girls education and among the partners were; Joyce Banda Foundation, Sparkle Foundation, Advancing Girls Education in Africa (Age Africa) Partners Action for Sustainable Development (PASD) and  Youth Development for Productivity (YODEP)