Lilongwe, MALAWI – The Ministry of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare says it is working to reduce child marriages by 20 percent by 2030, as about 37 percent of girls in Malawi are married before the age of 18.
Director of Child Affairs in the ministry, Justin Hamela, said this at a media dialogue organised by Girls Not Brides Malawi in Lilongwe on Friday.
“The target is part of a strategic plan government developed two years ago to change the current situation.” he said.
Hamela added that Malawi has been classified by African Union as a country with progressive laws, including the 2017 constitutional amendment, the Child Care, Protection and Justice Act, the Marriage, Divorce and Family Relations Act, and Penal Code provisions that criminalise sex with children.
The Director acknowledged that some legal gaps still need to be addressed.
“That is why we are very confident that if we continue with the initiative, we should be able to reduce child marriage by 2030,” he said.
However, Hamela said the ministry faces many challenges including resistance to awareness campaigns, cultural practices that encourage child marriages, and teen pregnancies which lead some families to marry off their daughters rather than face embarrassment.
He noted that some councils have very limited resources to support awareness programmes to remove children from child marriages and to take them through social protection programmes.
The Director further noted that many girls who drop out of school because of marriage struggle to return, despite the Ministry of Education’s readmission policy, and he called for more funding from domestic sources and development partners to enhance the campaign.
Meanwhile, Carol Kulemeka, technical lead for the Malawi Accelerator Programme (MAP) at Girls Not Brides Malawi, observed that the national budget has no specific allocation for ending child marriage.
“There is no investment in ending child marriage, and we must correct that,” said Kulemeka, and she further stressed on the need for mindset change.
Kulemeka added that the Girls Not Brides network which has 103 member civil society organisations in the country has trained 123 traditional leaders and youth champions to speak and act against child marriage.
The dialogue brought together editors, district information officers and journalists from Lilongwe, Machinga and Mzimba, where the Girls Not Brides programme is being implemented.
Zodiak Broadcasting Services (ZBS) editor, Alex Banda, underscored the role of the media in telling stories that bring impact to communities and influence policy.
“If a community is perpetrating child marriages, it is upon us as journalists to share the story for action,” said Banda.
On the other hand, Malawi News Agency (Mana) reporter from Machinga, Alice Ndunya, said the dialogue will help reporters shape their stories and choose sources to make coverage more comprehensive.
Globally, about 12 million children are married off every year, according to reports.
