Changing the Trajectory for Girls

By PROPEL Health Malawi

Community members celebrate the completion of the Kaswiti Primary School block. Photo: CIO.

Every day, girls are breaking boundaries and barriers as entrepreneurs, innovators, and initiators of local movements, creating a shared environment to support women’s empowerment. Earlier this month, the world commemorated International Day of the Girl under the theme, “Girls’ vision for the future.” As we look toward the future, USAID’s PROPEL Health project would like to take a moment to celebrate the achievements of Chimwemwe Banda, a 29-year-old trailblazer who is driving change for adolescent girls, young women, and all youth through initiatives conducted by her organization, Citizen Impact Organization (CIO), in Mzuzu, Malawi.

Utilizing training by PROPEL Health on the Gender Action Learning System (GALS) tool, Chimwemwe was able to establish CIO to inspire community action and empower girls to actively contribute to development. Through CIO, she’s been able to achieve successes that contribute to stronger communities.

For example, combining GALS training with proposal writing training from a prior USAID project (the Health Policy Project), Chimwemwe elicited private sector support, while galvanizing community visioning and brick molding, for the completion of a school block at Kaswiti Primary in Mzimba district. This was done in partnership with TEVETA, a vocational training institution that creates opportunities for adolescent girls through on-the-job skills programing.

The new Kaswiti Primary School block (top), built through community partnership, compared with the old school block. Photos: CIO.

TEVETA supports girls like 19-year-old Elita Mkunika, who participated in the school block construction. At the age of 15, Elita dropped out of school, however, with a desire to learn new skills and be productive, she opted to participate in the on-the-job skills program. She is now in the process of developing a personal vision that will fuel her passion and guide progression toward her journey of starting a tailoring business.

Chimwemwe has currently reached approximately 20 other young people and women to use the GALS tools to plan for and pursue individual entrepreneurial goals. Further, the PROPEL Health GALS training session assisted Chimwemwe to serve marginalized groups, such as teen mothers, young people living with HIV, people with disabilities, and women.

Community members discuss the new construction, which allow for grades to have their own learning area. Previously, some grades (or standards) learned on opposite sides of the same room. Photo: CIO.

Chimwemwe’s story demonstrates how empowerment of girls can unlock leadership and other young adolescents’ visions to have an impact on communities and catalyze sustainable development. PROPEL Health will continue to invest in and amplify girls’ actions and leadership, calling for further investments and urgent action that drives the power of girls’ voices and visions, now and for the future.