Fighting Gender Based violence in Malawi

Sr Teresa Mulenga receiving her Certificate from an official from Malawi Bureau of Standards , after successfully attending the training

By Lucy Vokhiwa - Malawi

Community Manager and Ambassador of WWO

It was a beautiful day on 28^th June 2025, at Our Lady of Africa Center, Likuni, in Lilongwe Archdiocese, when 52 Catholic Women and Religious sisters graduated after undergoing trainings as Gender Based Violence (GBV) counsellors and gaining various  income generating skills through the project that Catholic Women Association in Malawi undertook in partnership with the Teresian Sisters with funding from Missio Achen in Germany.

The project aimed at combating gender-based violence through the advancement of women empowerment programmes by providing capacity building trainings on spirituality and skills development to religious sisters and Catholic Women Association  leaders. This is because Gender Based Violence (GBV) continues to affect a lot of women and girls in homes, schools and the workplace and is still a significant development obstacle in Malawi. Gender-Based Violence is widely acknowledged as a great concern not only from a human rights perspective but also from an economic and health perspective. The women learned various skills that included soap making; bath soap, washing bar soap, dishwashing liquid, and other detergents, plus glycerin and petroleum jelly making. The Malawi Bureau of Standards imparted knowledge on standardization, Certification, product safety and quality control which are key in manufacturing.

The trainings have greatly benefitted and empowered the women, most of whom have opened and registered new businesses, and are able to support themselves and their families. The project will go a long way to help fight against gender based violence, has proved the cordial relationship between Religious Sisters and Catholic Women In Malawi.