Empowering Adolescent Girls and Young Women for Transformed Communities

Abstract

Adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in Malawi and around the world face a significant burden of teenage pregnancies, child marriages, school dropouts, and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), all driven by poverty, harmful social norms, and limited access to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) information. The statistics from the global level to the local level are so overwhelming that if no action is taken, the situation will worsen, particularly due to the growing international backlash against women’s rights. The ever-increasing international backlash undermines the frameworks, commitments, and programs meant to safeguard AGYW.

In Malawi, particularly in the Mangochi district, the situation is concerning as it reports the highest number of cases in the country. Poverty, harmful social norms, and limited access to SRHR information necessitate a holistic approach that addresses the intersecting issues fuelling child marriages, teenage pregnancies, and SGBV.

The ‘Empowering Adolescent Girls and Young Women for Transformed Communities’ project addresses these interconnected challenges by creating safe spaces, strengthening the economic resilience of vulnerable AGYW, particularly survivors and those at risk, mobilizing community support, and enhancing the systems that aim to assist AGYW while building on previous activities. It envisions a future where empowered AGYW catalyse community transformation as systematic and individual barriers are removed. The project leverages different actors and stakeholders from the local to the district level to design and implement sustainable interventions.