Joint efforts of Child Protection Workers (CPWs) and community governance structures in Traditional Authorities (T/As) Kyungu, Kilupula and Mwakawoko in Karonga have led to the rescue of nine children from Tanzanian traffickers, authorities have said.
CPW for Kilupula, Mabvuto Shoghe, made the sentiments when a consortium of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) toured the areas to appreciate the successes and challenges of a project being implemented by the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) under the Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM).
For the past months, CCJP has been implementing a project titled "Enhancing Effective Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Women and Girls from Gender-based Violence through Improved Justice Delivery, self-advocacy and Self-activism" in the three T/As.
To achieve its goal, the Commission is working with local structures, which comprise Zone Implementation Committee as its epicentre, mother groups, chiefs, religious leaders, male champions, CPWs, youth, Community Victim Support Unit (CVSU), health workers, teachers and others.
And when CSO leaders visited Chikutu on Friday, Shoghe disclosed that the has registered a huge impact in the area, citing the rescue of nine children from traffickers from Tanzania last year.
"We have registered no case of child trafficking this year. All this is because of the collaboration that is there among the partners and being led by CCJP," he said.
On her part, Bertha Kikome of T/A Mwakaboko hailed the project for introducing mobile courts, which imposed stiff penalties on stray and errant husbands who neglected their children.
Kikome disclosed that she is now receiving K40, 000 monthly child maintenance from her ex-husbands after the court found him guilty of child neglect.
"Through the same initiative, I, as one of the deserted women, underwent a training in tailoring. Today, I have my own shop where I sew and sell clothes as a business," she said.
ZIC chairperson Brave Kanjere disclosed that the intervention has also played a critical role in addressing problems of child marriages in the areas.
In his remarks, Group Village Head (GVH) Mwangolera pleaded with CCJP to consider extending the implementation period of the project, stressing that there were still many gaps to fill.
Mwangolera said as much as there have been progress towards eliminating child labour and child marriages, the district is still far from achieving the goal.
"Hence, we are appealing to you, CCJP, to consider extending this project. Please ask your donors to provide additional funding so that this intervention registers its much-desired goal of ending child marriages inthis area," he pleaded.
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District Liaison Officer for DAI - Governance for Solutions (GfS), Christobell Munthali, concurred with the chief, emphasizing that after unearthing the underlying causes of child marriages and gender-based violence, it was imperative that it should now work towards finding solutions.
CCJP Project Officer for Gender Issues at the Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM), Stella Zimba-Wella, commended partners for their collaboration and coordination during the implementation of the project.
Zimba-Wella reiterated that coordinated service delivery plays a vital role in ensuring that survivors of violence, abuse, and exploitation not only access justice, but also gets healing and hope.
