Social exclusion and violence:
Education for social cohesion

Girls Education

Malawi

After the initiative launched in 1991 to increase the girls' access to school and school performance (and likewise to allow them to stay in school for a long time and finish the elementary school), a new great project has been launched in Malawi with this purpose. In this country where, according to a UNDP report, 32% of women are schooled, tradition and especially poverty are the reason that pushes many girls to quit school. Thus, the project covers a dimension of struggle against the effects of this poverty, particularly within the family.

In putting the program into practice, it covers several domains:
- At a state level: increase of the state's education expenses from 12% in 1991 to 32% in 1998. Awareness of the problems that underlie the decision of supporting girls' education and a scholarship introduction program oriented toward girls who do not take any elementary class.
- At an educational content level: elaboration of new school programs that are "gender-sensitive". - At an internal school rules level: agreed permission to girls to come back to school after having a baby, elimination of the obligation of wearing a uniform…
- And, as a complementary device, initiation of a free school feeding project for impoverished areas.

This program has been launched in Malawi to fight against the obstacles to girls schooling and their permanence. It introduces a flexibility that provides girls with great chances to enter and stay at school.

National Coordinator
Mr. Joseph MATOLA
Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture
P/BAG 328, Capital City
MALAWI

Financial Partners
USAID
WFP

1996-1997