By Howard Mlozi
In an effort to empower young women in skills development for social and economic development, the reigning Miss Malawi Thandie Chisi is mobilising young women from Mgona in Malawi’s Capital - Lilongwe to register for the upcoming programme offered under her Sustainable Fashion and Women Empowerment (SFWE) organisation.
The programme which is dubbed ‘Empower Her’, is a tailoring and design training, aimed at equipping vulnerable girls and young women with skills to support them to earn a living and become independent.
With support from Women First International Fund, the Miss Malawi office and Hilden Charitable Fund, I am excited that we mobilised, interacted and registered fresh trainees for our fourth cohort of the Empower Her skills development programme.
Together, we have committed to change the stories of young women by empowering them with tailoring and design skills. The idea is to equip them with skills that will support them to earn income to support their families.
During the registration and interaction with the girls and women, touching stories were told which motivated them to scale up the programme.
Girls and women are going through a lot in Malawi due to lack of resources. Some dropped out of school due to poverty and orphanhood which forced them into early marriage that sadly exposed them to gender-based-violence and extreme poverty. We needed to do something about it.
Chisi and her team also had a chance to interact with community leaders and beneficiaries of cohorts two and three of the Empower Her programme who shared their experiences.
It is encouraging to note that our intervention is bearing fruits as testified by community leaders and beneficiaries of the previous training. So, we are looking forward to impacting more lives so that no one is left behind,
Miss Malawi is focusing on youth empowerment with special attention to women and girls, particularly adolescents.
In a separate interview earlier, the Miss Malawi Organisation public relations manager Stephen Mdala said the body will continue to work with the reigning queen throughout her term.
She has indicated that her focus is women and girls and we will support her in any way possible to achieve her dream.
Chisi began modelling at the age of 18 and wants to use the platform as tool for social change.
This article was first published by Nation Publications Limited in Malawi.