YONECO, in partneship with UNFPA, is implementing a three-year project called Action for Teen Mothers and Adoleaent Girls in Dedza district.
This week, YONECO has been suporting community dialogue sessions on Gender Based Violence (GBV) using SASA (Start Awareness Support Action) in the area of Group Village Head (GVH) Chikhu, Traditional Authority (TA) Kachere in the district.
The community dialogue sessions are aimed at unearthing key factors that contribute towards increased cases of unintended teenage pregnancies, child marriages and various forms of GBV that are perpetrated against girls in the area.
During the sessions, community members pointed out inadequate parenting skills, harmful sociocultural norms, poverty and failure to enforce existing by-laws as key factors that are hindering progress in promoting the rights and welfare of adolescent girls.
Furthermore, community members and their leaders developed a number of action points to strategically address the aforementioned issues. Community members agreed to commence the implemention of all the agreed action points by 31 December, 2021.
Apart from community members and traditional leaders, the sessions were also attended by various district stakeholders including Dedza District Youth Officer (DYO) and child protection officers,
