Since 1997, YONECO has been promoting the rights of women and children in Malawi, through the implementation of various advocacy and other support programmes and development initiatives that promote economic empowerment and skills development.
Radio programmes are a powerful way to reach many rural Malawians, people will often listen to programmes whilst going about their daily activities. YONECO has used radio successfully across the country along with support call centers to raise awareness around key issues facing women and children in Malawi.
Through Village Savings Clubs, YONECO has helped many women, like Halima Kasindasi below. She started with just a small investment selling beans but then each time she received an additional pay out from the Savings Club, she added to her product range. Now selling shoes, clothes and beans, her shop is thriving and she is empowered and hopeful, rather than the alternative of being an economically vulnerable and more easily exploited by others.
Another successful outcome is Jones Gwaza (not his real name), who was born HIV positive and had his father pass away whilst he was very young. He dropped out of school after his mother could no longer afford to pay school fees. At 19, shunned because of his HIV status, with little schooling, he was really struggling to see any hope for my future. YONECO’s ‘Investing for the Impact of HIV and AIDS’ project and Village Savings Club, changed his life. Now at 24 he is now producing groundnuts and grains and exporting them to Mozambique, runs a motorcycle taxi business that employs other youth as drivers and plans to soon add a car to his taxi business. Once an ARV defaulter, he now voluntarily become a peer educator who uses his transport to visit possible medicine defaulters.
He has become a great role model for the youth in his community, providing an example of how a small initial investment in a Village Savings Bank can provide the social support network and finances to kick start entrepreneurial and economic activity. This initial start, along with wise reinvesting and growth, can change any future, even those which started out with many early set-backs.
In 2015, the Malawi Government officially introduced a law banning child marriage, to protect girls and prevent the widespread practice where girls are forced or pressured to marry before they are 18. Yet within many rural communities there is still pressure to marry early, particularly for teenage girls who fall pregnant. YONECO works with numerous girl groups and schools throughout the country, and along with their local councilors to help promote awareness and options for young girls to help support them to remain in school and delay marriage.