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Malawi Youth-Led Organization Spearheads Youth Empowerment Project
Youth-led Yofonat in Lilongwe empowers young people by offering opportunities to take on local government roles, writes Mustafa Makumba.
LILONGWE, Malawi— The Youth Forum for National Transformation (Yofonat), a youth-led organization in Lilongwe, Malawi, is leading a Youth Empowerment Project that offers young people opportunities to assume various positions in local government spaces, writes Mustafa Makumba.
According to Chifundo Robert, the executive director of Yofonat, the organization is aiming to see more young people assume at least 30% in the political space.
Robert said that the initiative is first engaging influential duty-bearers to convince them to engage young people.
"The engagements that started in March 2022 are yielding fruits as two duty-bearers, Mtsiriza and Mtandire ward councillors, have singled out at least two young people to represent fellow youths in the Grievance Redress Mechanism (GRM), a committee spearheading the implementation of Malawi-Electricity Access Project (MEAP)," Robert said.
Before the initiative was launched, most youths around Mtandire and Mtsiriza in Lilongwe were not interested in taking part in various political positions in their community, however, Yofonat has changed this setup.
More than 300 young people have been transformed due to the series of engagements that the initiative has undertaken.
One young person, Harrison Saikonde got trained through Yofonat's engagements and has become the chairperson for the Senti Village Development Committee (VDC).
"Due to their training, I had developed the confidence to contest for the post, and I finally won. I never had any prowess to contest in these kinds of posts as they were deemed to be fit for older people; however, the initiative helped me change my mindset," Saikonde said.
Ruth Gradson, 25, is also a Grievance Redress Mechanism (GRM) agent who has been transformed through the empowerment program.
"I am now a confident youth who can stand up and be heard. Most youths in my community who were mischievous are now changed due to engagements from this initiative," Gradson said.
Lilongwe Shire Zone Network Chairperson, Connie Lulanga, also participated in the empowerment engagements.
He echoes Gradson’s sentiments, saying that the initiative is helping the youth by giving them opportunities to contest and assume community leadership positions.
“Many young people in our localities always shun taking part in local political and developmental positions such as VDC or as ward councilors. But since the coming in of this initiative, we have noticed that some are rising to the occasion and are now contesting in these positions, garnering support from both the young and old,” Lulanga disclosed.
Mtsiriza Ward Councilor, Patricia Singini, has lauded Yofonat's efforts in changing the mindset of young people in her area.
She cited that the engagements that the initiative was undertaking were a welcome development to her as they were helping her own people, especially youths in the area.
"The organization is doing a lot in my area that is life-changing. The youth empowerment messages they provide to our youth impact them immensely. As I am speaking right now, many youths in my area are now working hard in school as they know that the best way to get empowered is through the knowledge they get in school," Singini said.
Yofonat was established in 2019, with the aim of advocating for gender equality, climate justice, sexual and reproductive health rights, and youth empowerment.
In spite of its success story, the initiative faces financial constraints that limit its operations and ability to reach as many youths as possible.