The NGO-Coalition on Child Rights (NGO CCR) has asked government to prioritize financing child protection initiatives and instruments in a bid to enhance the rights of children in the country.

National Coordinator for the Coalition, Henry Machemba, made the call as the country joins the global community in observing the 19 days of Activism for Prevention of Child Abuse and Violence which will run up to November 19, 2021.

Speaking to YFM, Machemba said in the past three financial years the country has seen a decline in budget allocation to the sector which has tremendously affected issues of child protection as the funds are not enough.

“It is sad that the child protection sector is not prioritized despite being one of the critical sectors as evidenced by the increase in cases of child abuse in the communities,” he said.

He added; “For the past years we have seen the reduction in the funds allocated to the sector from K100 per child per year to K40 per child per year, this is not enough for all the interventions on the ground because cases of child abuse are increasing every single day.”

Machemba has further appealed to development partners to assist the country to effectively implement interventions of child protection through provision of financial support and expertise among others.

Recently, Malawi has seen increase in child abuse cases including domestic, sexual and physical abuses with sexual abuses dominating the list with a total of 64 cases being recorded in the past eight months.