Abstract

This study investigated the role of community participation in the promotion of girl child education with special focus on the work of Mother Groups, Village Development Committees (VDCs) and Youth Clubs in the communities. The main research argument is that various interventions have been undertaken and numerous others are under way to eradicate the socio economic barriers to the education of girls, however, a lot of work needs to be done in getting rid of the cultural factors which are difficult to overcome than the social economic barriers which most of the Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and Government have already been able to address. These barriers require the community itself to take responsibility and work towards eradicating them. The main objective of the study was to find out the role communities are playing in the promotion of girl child education in the study districts. The study explored community participation through qualitative methods using Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), In-depth Interview (IDIs) and Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) in Zomba and Machinga Districts. The main findings reveal that Mother groups, VDCs and Youth Clubs have proved to be a great resource in reinforcing the agenda of keeping girls in school and also ensuring girls return to school after either pregnancy or early marriage. They also provide sexual and reproductive health information by holding talks with the girls in school and out of school, conducting extracurricular activities to keep the girls occupied after school and on the weekends and also identifying and prioritizing needs of girls in school. However, these groups still face a lot of challenges in their work including intimidation from politicians, negative perceptions from other community members and inadequate resources to run their daily activities. Despite these challenges, the study therefore concluded that community participation is of great importance if we are to promote girl child education and even education as a whole.

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School	: School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Issued Date	: 2020

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