Girl Rise Initiative Malawi Works to Support Vulnerable & Orphaned Individuals, Combat Gender-Based Violence, End Early Marriages

Malawi: In Malawi, a small country in southern Africa, girls and young women often face challenges such as limited access to education, early marriage, and gender-based violence.

One organization working to address these issues is the Girls Rise Initiative Malawi (GRIM). GRIM is a non-profit organization founded by Tionge Mtambo, who is deeply committed to improving the lives of girls and young women in Malawi.

Through GRIM, girls in Malawi are able to access a range of resources and support to help them overcome these challenges and reach their full potential. This includes things like education and counseling.

Mtambo, a teacher by profession, says: "The organization is dedicated to advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the Malawi 2063 long-term development plan by supporting orphaned girls in Ilengo Zone and the entire district. We provide these girls with basic necessities like food, school uniforms, and school fees up to the secondary level, believing that empowering a girl child empowers the entire community."

Many girls in Malawi are unable to complete their education due to financial and other barriers, and GRIM is working to remove these barriers and provide girls with the opportunity to continue their studies.

"Education is the key to unlocking the potential of girls and young women in Malawi," said Mtambo, the founder of GRIM. "Through our scholarship program, we're able to provide girls with the resources and support they need to stay in school and achieve their goals."

Another way that GRIM is supporting girls in Malawi is by advocating for their rights and providing legal assistance. GRIM works to raise awareness about the harmful effects of early marriage and gender-based violence, and provides legal assistance to girls who have experienced these issues.

"Our organization's goal is to give hope to the hopeless and instil confidence in the neglected, particularly those who are abandoned or orphaned due to HIV/AIDS cases in the district. We also provide shelter, food, and clothes for the underprivileged to help them live in an inclusive society,” said Mtambo.

"In order to build bright futures for these individuals, the organization provides early childhood development, primary, and secondary school education. Additionally, we aim to end early marriages and bring back to school girls who were forced into them due to poverty caused by the deaths of their parents from HIV/AIDS.”

Girl Rise Initiative Malawi was founded in 2021 to address the needs of vulnerable and orphaned individuals, particularly those whose parents have died from HIV/AIDS, in Chitipa district where the prevalence rate of the virus is 3.5%.

In addition to providing food, shelter, clothes, and education to these individuals, the organization has also expanded its efforts to combat gender-based violence against adolescent women and girls and end early marriages resulting from the effects of HIV/AIDS.

“To date, the organization has successfully raised 50 orphans and rescued 35 girls from early marriages, returning survivors to school and providing school uniforms and fees to approximately 90 girls,” said Mtambo.

Mtambo said her organization aims to contribute to the socio-economic growth of the country by empowering vulnerable and underprivileged individuals in society, with the goal of creating a society that is free from social injustices, poverty, hunger, gender-based violence, and educational inequality.