Children in Malawi have low status and low respect. They can regularly and repeatedly suffer violence, exploitation, and abuse, including commercial exploitation, child trafficking, child labour, and harmful traditional practices such as early marriages. These are unfortunately widespread problems, occurring globally, however they are particularly bad in Malawi as a result of long-held traditional beliefs and attitudes which indicate 'the child comes last'. It was against this background that AYISE took action.

Being a child focused organisation, AYISE partnered with the Government and other relevant organisations like UNICEF and Plan Malawi to contribute to the efforts addressing incidences of child abuse in Malawi. It was in this understanding that UNICEF supported AYISE, through the ministry of labour, to create awareness on the “stop child abuse” campaign which was being conducted at national level by different players working in the field of child protection.

This project generally aimed at mobilizing community leadership and commitment with the view to prevent and respond to violence, exploitation, and abuse against children including commercial exploitation, child trafficking, child labour, and harmful traditional practices such as early marriages.

Specifically the project intended to achieve the following:

• To support a child helpline as a child protection mechanism
• To establish 40 child rights clubs in primary schools
• To put in place and strengthen child protection committees and train local civic educators
• To disseminate “Stop Child Abuse” campaign messages to the general public through drama and material distribution.

Achievements
Through this project AYISE ran a hotline which community members could call whenever rapid response to a vulnerable child was needed. This hotline was a phone number which was given to the child protection community committees. The officer was able to call back anyone who left a dropped call (“flash”) on this phone and take action to prevent an act of child abuse taking place.

36 child rights clubs also referred to as Trolley Full of Rights clubs were established in 36 schools within Blantyre City. These clubs were trained on issues of child rights and responsibilities so that as children begin to demand that their rights be respected, they also understand their responsibilities. This strategy is creating a violent free learning and home environment. In total 360 children and 36 club patrons were directly reached through the training sessions.

3 Child Protection committees were put in place and 7 strengthened through training sessions on child rights and how to be a local civic educator. The 3 committees were established and trained in communities of Kachere, Chimwankhunda and Zingwangwa. The already established committees were strengthened through refresher training to remind them of their roles and responsibilities in relation to educating fellow community members and ensuring that children are protected at all times.

“Stop Child Abuse” campaign messages were disseminated to all the targeted communities through drama, presentation and questions and answer sessions. Further materials carrying relevant messages were also distributed. Among these materials were pieces of cloth and bicycles. The bicycles included identity cards for their easy identification with relevant authorities and other law enforcers in their communities.