A local non-governmental organization (NGO), Women’s Hope for Change (WH4C) Board Chairperson, Griveta Kagone, has called for collaboration amongst stakeholders to deal with challenges faced by children.
Kagone made the remarks during the meeting with stakeholders organized during the weekend by WH4C.
The aim of the meeting was to empower communities and stakeholders in dealing with child abuse in Mchinji District.
Kagone expressed her dissatisfaction with the campaigns conducted to get rid of incidents of child abuse in the district, saying not much is being achieved in reducing cases of child abuse.
“Despite the various campaigns against child abuse being undertaken in this district, we are still registering high number of child abuse cases.
“Children are being forced to marry, drop out of school and work as prostitutes within and in neighboring countries,” said Kagone.
She, therefore, emphasized on the need for unity among all parties involved in dealing with the problem which is paralyzing community development and the nation at large.
In her remarks, Assistant Social Welfare Officer, Sungeni Mapemba, hailed WH4C for its efforts in uniting stakeholders.
“We thank WH4C for calling together all stakeholders such as religious leaders, chiefs and the police to reason together and help one another in coming up with measures which will help us to deal with this prolonged misconduct of child abuse,” said Mapemba.
WH4C is implementing a child protection project in Mchinji, to ensure that children’s rights are safeguarded.
Reported By Monica Banda
