Empowering young people in Malawi through health quizzes

Posted by Khanyi Khuzwayo on 08 July 2024, 14:55 SAST

The winners—Likuni Girls Secondary students with their trophy

FutureLife-Now! contributes to the development of healthy and empowered young people who can lead responses to 21st century challenges, including those related to health and education. The programme achieves this through innovative—and sometimes fun—activities, such as competitions and quizzes. 

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This film explores the experiences of a secondary school learner from Dedza District in Malawi who is in deep shock after receiving a positive HIV test from the hospital. She is very destressed and doesn't know what to do and thinks that her future is bleak. The story opens with her on her own, crying which captures the attention of the other learners.

 While walking past, a Youth Facilitator, notices her crying under a tree while her friends are learning in class. The HIV results have made her isolate herself from the rest of her friends and her shock makes her forgets that she is supposed to be in class at that time. 

The Youth Facilitator then speaks to her and encourages her by explaining that being HIV positive doesn't mean the end of one’s life, rather it is good that she now knows her status so that she can start taking her medication and ensure that she adheres to the treatment. He explains that when she starts taking treatment, she can live a healthy, normal health life like her peers. The Youth Facilitator also assists her with a strategy she can use to make sure she adheres to her medication regime.

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Executive members of Madisi Youth Club planning how to protect Monjeza forest

Monjeza forest sits alongside the community of Madisi, and is part of the Dowa highland in central Malawi. It was once home to an abundance of wildlife. Nowadays, although the 30-kilometre reserve is still home to over 300 hyenas, many bushbucks and a range of endangered species, it is sadly not the place it once was.

Overpopulation, overdependence on natural resources and overgrazing by domesticated animals have led to deforestation and contributed to the loss of Monjeza’s magnificent reserve.

But all is not lost. The youth of Madisi are taking matters in hand. Over the past two years, the Madisi Youth Club, assisted by FutureLife-Now! youth facilitator, Isaac Dyson, embarked on a project to protect the Monjeza Forest Reserve.

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Hoes, trowels, and fertilizers were just some of the items that found their way to the FutureLife-Now! pilot schools in Malawi. The equipment, delivered to the schools in June 2021, was provided to enable the establishment of school gardens.

The idea of a FutureLife-Now! garden project was a way of ensuring that learners would be empowered and equipped with knowledge in crop farming. Each school received hand trowels, hand forks, rakes, pangas, watering canes, wheelbarrows, hoes, a sprayer, two 50kg bags of fertiliser, 10 packets of vegetable seeds, four bottles of chemicals, and a measuring string.

Agriculture teachers gave learners practical lessons on farming, specifically on establishing and managing food gardens, and how to care for various crops and vegetables. The teachers put their hearts into the project by continuously building capacity of learners in managing the gardens.

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What do you do when over 50 learners need bursaries and there is only enough funding for 20% of them? If you are a learner at Umbwi Secondary School based in Dedza, Malawi, you start a poultry farming project to raise the necessary funds.

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The graduation day was lightened with joyful memories as stakeholders were called and assembled in the school hall to celebrate and give recognition to the bonafide students who will be graduating soon after writing the national examination. The occasion took place on 14th October 2021 at Ngowe Community Day Secondary School. The ceremony included dances, music, and poems among the students. Continue reading. 

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Dowa Secondary School is located in the central region of Malawi in the Dowa district. The school opened its doors in 1965 (45 years). Its reputation has gone far beyond the boundaries of Dowa.

Dowa is among the few schools that are benefiting from the FutureLife-Now! project. This project is indeed a partner in need as it embraced us in time of COVID-19 by providing preventive materials like masks to every student. In addition, as we know, Malawi usually has problems with electricity. Continue reading. 

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What do boys and young men need? The best way to find out is to ask them!

This is precisely what happened at the boys’ vulnerability dialogue sessions at Ngowe and Natola Community Day Secondary schools in Malawi, on 22 and 25 June, 2021.

The sessions were organised by the FutureLife-Now! programme in its quest to include young boys and men in programmes in an attempt to address the impact of gender disparities in society.

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As part of a coronavirus emergency response in the four FutureLife-Now! pilot countries, MIET AFRICA developed a communication and advocacy strategy to reach young people, their families, and broader communities with factually accurate information on the virus.

This included introducing radio programmes as a component of the FutureLife-Now! programme, because radio can be used to inform, educate, advocate and promote social learning, as well as entertain communities.

The programming included a 20-episode radio programme on COVID-19 called Together – We can beat it, which ran from August to December 2020; two interrelated programmes on comprehensive sexuality education in partnership with UNFPA and UNESCO which ran between November 2020 and January 2021; and a programme on climate change, Our Changing Climate – Our Time to Act!, developed in collaboration with UNITAR and broadcast in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe from late November 2020 until February 2021.

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COVID-19 brought with it a serious communication challenge. Lockdowns, restrictions on public gatherings and face-to-face meetings resulted in curbs on all educational activity, including FutureLife-Now! programmes.

In response to this challenge MIET AFRICA assisted the 10 FutureLife-Now! schools in Malawi by establishing an effective e-platform solution. Each school was equipped with solar panels, laptops, projectors and Wi-Fi access, allowing for online communication, meetings and workshops. This has enabled the schools to conduct virtual meetings with their own stakeholders, including learners, educators, parents, local and religious leaders, task team members and civil society organisations, as well as with one another.

One of the schools that has benefited from the installation of the e-platforms is Umbwi Secondary School in Dedza district. Dave Mchakama is the youth facilitator at the school. He prides himself on utilising the e-platform to provide civic education to students at the school.

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