Founded in year 2013, Hope for Relief Organisation-Malawi is a local youth-led Non-Profit Organisation supporting communities to empower them and reach out to community members with health, environmental and education initiatives.
‘Keeping Girls Safe in School’ is a project implemented by Hope for Relief which targets adolescent girls in primary and secondary schools around rural areas of the Rumphi district. The project aims at reduction of school drop-outs and absenteeism from classes during menstrual periods among girls aged 10-19. The project wants to ensure that girls remain in school and finish primary and secondary school education.
Hope for Relief Organisation partnered with Aflatoun International to integrate the Aflatoun concept of Child Social and Financial Education (CSFE) into their project ‘Keeping Girls Safe in Schools’ to empower girls by using the Aflatoun Clubs. The organisation started with Aflatoun Clubs for girls only in order to be in line with the current programme. It is planned that the programme will extend to boys in the beneficiary schools.
There have been major accomplishments since the implementation of Aflatoun’s programmes. Aflatoun trained 15 facilitators comprising of Hope for Relief Organisation staff and board members, teachers and pupils from a primary school in Pumphi district. Furthermore, the Aflatoun programme activities have been tailored to the ‘Keeping Girls Safe in School’ project in the beneficiary schools. Currently, 5 partner schools in the Rumphi district have been introduced to the Aflatoun concept and the formation of Alfatoun clubs. Moreover, the first active Aflatoun Club, consisting of 50 pupils, was established at the Phalasito primary school in the Rumphi district.
Tionge Msimuko is one of the participants of the programmes at the Phalasito primary School. Tionge comes from a village called Chibankhuni in the Rumphi district in Malawi. She is 13 years old and was chosen to participate in a 3-day Aflatoun training. She is one of the 3 pupils who were chosen because of their good performance in their classes.
During the Aflatoun Training Workshop, Tionge was one of the most active participants who took leading roles in most of the group activities during the training. Upon completion of the training, Tionge went back to Phalasito primary school and was the first pupil to start sharing information about the Aflatoun concept to her peers in her class and the school as a whole. She was chosen to be the president of the Aflatoun Club. She is now working hand in hand with the trained facilitators in leading the club activities.
On personal ground, Tionge has started saving her funds and valuable resources both at home and school. She has started contributing to the Group Funds kept at the school. At home, she has pledged to start a vegetable garden with the help of her siblings. She believes that the funds will support their family with basic needs like food and school materials.
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