Youth Net and Counselling (YONECO), a local non-governmental organization has trained 54 mother group members from 18 schools in Chambe Education Zone in Mulanje District in a bid to promote girl-child education

The women are expected to counsel, mentor and support girls who returned to school after getting pregnant.

The training has been conducted under the Adolescent Girls and Young Women project (AGYW).

During the three day training, the mother group members were trained on topics such as counselling, HIV and gender based violence.

One of the participants from Nogwe school, Fanny Nakari said the training was timely and they will use their skills to bring change in their area.

She spoke about how poverty has driven girls in her area to drop out of school.

Nakari has been a mother group member for about two years and together with her team have managed to withdraw 32 girls from marriages, encourage them to return to school and counsel them on risky behaviors that will prevent them from furthering their education.

One of the mother group members, Cathy Muloma Chikopa from Milonga Community Day Secondary School (CDSS) told YFM that girls at her school face challenges during menstruation because they do not have adequate sanitary facilities.

She also stressed on the importance of educating the girl child.

YONECO has been implementing the Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW) in Mulanje since 2017 with financial support from Action Aid through Christian Aid.