Malawi ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1991. The CRC provides for the rights of the child and in places further details obligations that duty bearers must fulfil.

In the past decade AYISE, with the help of various partners, has contributed tremendously towards the protection and of the rights of the child. AYISE vows to remain a voice for children, often a largely neglected portion of Malawi’s society.

AYISE’s programmes currently on the ground are meant to promote all of the rights of children as stipulated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. However, the following are some of our areas of focus on some specific rights of the child:

A Child’s Right to Education

While all rights are important, AYISE underscores the need to promote children’s rights to education. As is reflected in the CRC, education helps children to grow up to become responsible and independent citizens of the nation. It helps them to see opportunities and exploit them and the whole leadership and management of affairs of the state largely depends on one’s attainment of not only education but quality education.

It is important to note that while primary education is free in Malawi, orphans and other vulnerable children find it difficult to complete primary study and continue with post-primary studies due to lack of support. AYISE’s programmes in this area aim to provide child educational sponsorship which covers all aspects of support to a school-going child. With support from the International
Labour Organisation (ILO), AYISE has managed to support 1300 children from vulnerable families with school uniforms, exercise books, textbooks and stationery and has been able to support their respective families with livelihood interventions aimed at boosting food production so that these children are fed before and after school. Livelihood intervention is crucial in order to ensure that these children stay at school and are not required to go and work to support the family.

20 children at post-primary level are receiving support for their studies. This covers school fees, shoes, school uniforms, exercise books and other learning materials.

A child’s Right to Protection

The Convention on the Rights of the Child provides for the right of the child to be protected from any form of abuse or exploitation. In this area AYISE’s work focuses on the following:

withdrawal and rehabilitation of children involved in the worst forms of child labour and prevention of further cases

This covers child labour that is practiced in the domestic and agricultural sector. Currently, with support from ILO, 350 boys and girls in Mangochi T/A Jalasi and Bwananyambi who were working on farms in a variety of ways, some of these children aged between 7 and 14, have been withdrawn from child labour and sent back to school with support for their families through income-generating opportunities. Another 350 children aged 15 to 18 years, also in Mangochi, who have opted not to go back to school, have been supported with vocational skills or income-generating programmes, depending on their individual needs and capabilities. Another 600 children in Thyolo, Mulanje and Phalombe Districts, T/A of Kapichi, Mabuka and Jenera respectively, who were on the verge of entering into child labour, were prevented from doing so and supported through family livelihood security initiatives.

100 children working in domestic establishments (people’s homes) have been withdrawn and some who were interested in going back to their homes have since been repatriated for parental, guardian or foster care. This was possible with support from UNICEF Malawi.

AYISE is aware that there are so many of these children in the city of Blantyre and other cities and that there are so many similar cases on other agricultural estates and in other establishments that need to bailed from labour bondage. AYISE will continue to work towards a child labour-free nation where all children are given the opportunities they deserve. It is the understanding that our usual partners in this are, UNICEF and ILO, and others we are not currently aware of, will come to the rescue of many of these trapped children.

With support from UNICEF, AYISE has also set up a Child & Young Person’s Transit Centre which is an accommodation facility for young people caught up in vulnerable situations who urgently require temporary accommodation as a safe haven. Many of these children would like to go back home for parental or guardian care and are repatriated with assistance from our Child Welfare Officers.

Many children returning to their homes find themselves falling again into dangerous situations as a result of blighting poverty seen in many visited households. It was this poverty that forced the child to town looking for work, yet they are returned to face a similar desperate situation. We believe that some children are sexually abused in the quest for further support in their local setups. AYISE’s work addressing respect for the Rights of the Child, empowerment of the child and broad anti-poverty initiatives aim to bring an end to these deeply upsetting cases.

In order for our child protection work to remain sustainable, AYISE has set up Community Child Protection Committees whose job is to detect all children in situations of vulnerability, withdraw them from danger, and send them to the Child Transit Centre for psycho-social support and possible repatriation.

Child sexual exploitation

AYISE works combat child sexual exploitation. Child sexual abuse often remains hidden because sex in its general nature takes place in the confines of homes. Children can also be manipulated by those they trust and made to believe that what is happening is acceptable. AYISE is involved in bringing an end child prostitution by supporting girls working in places of public entertainment who have been organised into a group known as Forum for Girls Working in Places of Public Entertainment with the view of allowing them to graduate from their current work into alternative careers on which their whole future depends.
AYISE’s work in promoting child rights in schools and by mainstreaming the issue throughout all of its programmes has increased child awareness of acts which would constitute abuse.
We also work on advocacy issues to deal with cross-border trafficking of children for sexual and other purposes.

Our campaign in Bangwe Township, facilitated by AYISE with support from the Blantyre City Assembly and Bangwe Police, saw brothels where young children were recruited for sexual purposes raided by the police and the owners taken to court for prosecution. Unfortunately, we know that such brothels still exist in some townships while the communities are unaware of the real nature of these structures and the business run within. However funding has not been forthcoming to do a broad-based survey and implement the relevant interventions.

Child Participation

AYISE has learnt over the years that it has been dealing child protection work that child participation begins by acknowledging children’s capacities. Thus, AYISE is committed to fulfilling the child’s right to participate through a gradual process of learning and adaptation, with children and adults working together, while allowing children themselves to take up management, leadership and decision-making roles on the issues that matter to them.

AYISE believes that encouraging child participation means seeing children as human beings with rights and ability and focusing on what they can do, rather than on what they cannot do.
AYISE also believes that participation encourages children to acknowledge their responsibilities as part of a family, an organisation, a group, a community and, on a broader scale, as part the world.

In the process of promoting their own rights, children learn to analyse the world beyond their personal situations. Participation is thus about growing up to become understanding, productive and responsible citizens.

Child participation is no longer a ‘pleasant idea’ for the future or a matter for negotiation - it is a right. Despite lack of child participation as part of Malawi’s traditional culture, the child’s right to participate is a human right.

Children have a right to participate in decisions made on their behalf, progressively as their knowledge and understanding develops (Article 12). The CRC also makes provision for children to receive, or have access to, information to help them participate meaningfully, as well as education so that they are aware of their rights and can become responsible citizens (Articles 17 and 29). They also have the right to express their opinions in forms that may be easier for them than the spoken and written ways used by adults (Article 13). In addition, they have the right to form organisations with leadership to represent their own interests (Article 15).

In this area AYISE supports Community-Based Childcare Centres and is in the process of building a Children’s Corner at the Bangwe Youth Centre which will be a role model centre where children can participate in various activities and at the same time express leadership and decision-making over these activities.

Children in Conflict with the Law

AYISE is a member of the Juvenile Justice Network, a structure that is aimed at assisting children, particularly those in conflict with the law. The Network promotes treatment in a manner consistent with the provisions of the CRC and the Constitution of Malawi on treatment of young offenders.

Our transit centre also helps to provide a safe haven for children who have been demonised by society as a result of anti-social behaviour and therefore shunned into isolation. AYISE works to facilitate child reintegration into society through counselling and mediation between the child and the aggrieved parties. This work is very difficult as it requires highly trained staff and enough resources in order to achieve success. AYISE currently funds this work with its resources because of the passion we have for each and every Malawian child, regardless of behaviour in the past.

We have also trained Community Paralegals who help mediate on child-related issues, particularly those issues of juvenile justice.

Child Welfare Support

AYISE has been grappling with the increasing number of children affected by HIV and AIDS. More and more they require immediate survival needs and educational support. In this area we support orphans and other vulnerable children with direct welfare support. This includes distribution of food supplies to poor families who are the custodians of orphans, provision of educational materials and psycho-social support. We thank the Scottish-Malawi Foundation and Feed the Children Malawi who have made our work in this area a success. 1200 orphans have been targeted and assisted by this programme. They received regular support during Scottish-Malawi Foundation and Feed the Children Malawi projects, which have since phased out. These 1200 orphans remain in a situation of urgent need.

Child Emergency Support:

Malawi’s geographical location leaves the country susceptible to various natural disasters from droughts at one extreme to extensive flooding at the other. AYISE, as a child-focused organisation, understands the impact these disasters have on the social and emotional well-being of the child. AYISE actively participates in alleviating suffering faced by children in disaster situations.

AYISE was engaged by UNICEF Malawi to carry out a detailed assessment of children affected by floods in Chikwawa and Nsanje District early in 2008.

The assessment unveiled the following shocking results:

1. the children found in camps of internally displaced persons (IDPs) due to floods were prone to sexual abuse and exploitation
2. that the right of children to education was temporarily affected and in some cases suspended
3. that children lacked basic support in the form of bedding, clothes and food
4. that children of 18 years and below were sleeping in mixed sex camp tents and hence the girl child was particularly vulnerable
5. exposure to behaviour and practices not in keeping with a child’s age

After visiting the camps, the following disaggregated information was compiled and details the number of children who were in dire need of support.

Total Number of People at the Camps in Chikwawa and Nsanje

After the assessment, AYISE carried out the following activities in the camps for IDPs:

1. education on rights of the child
2. advocating to other actors to provide food aid and other necessary support

Both actions were very successful. UNICEF provided more tents, utensils such as plates and cups, basins and pales. World Vision International supported people at some of the camps with food aid and Red Cross reinforced their existing support.