YONECO has urged parenting circles to step up their efforts in supporting girls and ensuring that they should remain in school.
This was said in Mchinji during a monitoring visit to Mzikiti Parenting Circle in the area of Chief Kanyama, Traditional Authority (T/A) Zulu in Mchinji District. The visit was aimed at reviewing the progress which the forums made against the targeted outputs they made earlier this year.
Addressing the group members, the Project Officer for YONECO in the district, Tionge Banda, commended the group for achieving a number of key milestones in their areas. Among other things, Banda said the parenting circles managed to conduct a number of awareness campaigns on dangers of child marriages, providing counselling to all children who were withdrawn marriage, referring child abuse cases to the right authorities, conducting community meetings with leaders and following up on all reported child abuse cases.
The parenting circle members were also encouraged to creatively find other means of dealing with the problem of child marriage in their area.
In her remarks, the Chairperson of the parenting circle, Lucy Cassim appreciated the technical support they get from YONECO. Cassim stated that the problem of child marriage in her area is very prevalent and requires proper coordination and continuous engagement in order to deal with it.
