AGE Africa Empowers Women in Dowa with Life-Changing Opportunities
An action research conducted by AGE Africa in Dowa, Mchinji, and Kasungu has helped enhance the scholarship beneficiary selection process.
Dowa, Malawi-The Advancing Girls Education in Africa (AGE Africa) is on a mission to create life-changing opportunities for young women in Dowa, Malawi, writes Vincent Gunde.
They are doing this through their Malawi End-to-end program, which focuses on education, mentorship, and leadership development initiatives.
AGE Africa is currently active in nine districts in Malawi, including Dowa, Ntchisi, Mchinji, Kasungu, Balaka, Mangochi, Machinga, Zomba, and Mulanje. In Dowa, the organization is working with six feeder primary schools and nine secondary schools.
One of the key initiatives of AGE Africa is the provision of scholarships, which are awarded to individual students.
These scholarships can last up to four years if the recipient continues to meet AGE Africa's eligibility requirements. Scholarship payments are made directly to the Ministry of Education on behalf of the recipient, and students also receive school materials, toiletries, and small stipends at the beginning of each school term.
According to Chauncy Kasenye, AGE Africa's District Coordinator for Dowa, secondary school students must be from feeder primary schools, be in need, and perform well in class.
Tertiary beneficiaries must also be in need and from partner schools.
While the program has made significant progress, there are challenges in Dowa, including language difficulties among students, inadequate learning materials in Community Day Secondary Schools, and poor boarding facilities for self-boarding schools.
The primary objective of the program is to contribute to the development of future leaders in Malawi, with a particular focus on children in tobacco farming communities.
The program aims to improve access to post-secondary education, provide knowledge in Sexual Reproduction and Health (SRH), enhance gender leadership skills, conduct joint monitoring visits to schools, and offer psychosocial support training.
An action research conducted by AGE Africa in Dowa, Mchinji, and Kasungu has helped enhance the scholarship beneficiary selection process.
The findings suggest that the current selection process is effective in identifying needy students but might not effectively identify students with high academic performance potential.
Dowa District Council's Director of Planning and Development, Mercy Mpakule, commended AGE Africa for its exemplary project progress reporting and urged all partners in the district to follow their lead.