Tiphunzire! (Let's Learn!)

"The core assumption of Tiphunzire! is that gender norms as well as inadequate SRH practices significantly affects the livelihoods and life aspirations of girls and women alike. By improving the knowledge of sexual and reproductive health and rights at an early stage, a girl can strengthen their self-esteem and confidence to make the best use of education."

Tiphunzire! focuses on girls aged 11-15 in the top three grades of primary school who have been identified as at risk of dropping out of school, as well as girls in the community who have already dropped out of school. The project is being implemented in two phases. During Phase 1, AoC were deployed in 36 schools across 6 districts. During Phase 2, the project was scaled up, and AoC were deployed in further 189 schools across 10 districts.

The AoC run two after-school girls' clubs per week with both in-school and out-of-school girls, as well as a monthly community radio listening club. Teachers receive training to improve their ability to teach literacy and numeracy and SRHR education in participatory and interactive ways. They also run child protection and gender inclusivity training with the other teachers in their school. By working within both the community and the school, the project hopes to build links that will enable the AoC teachers to encourage community and parental support for girls' education and address barriers to their learning, such as poor SRH, gender expectations, and poverty.

Using their mobile phones, the participating teachers are able to access constantly updated gender-sensitive project curricula with examples of best practices, share detailed qualitative and quantitative impact with the TfaC team, and support and motivate each other. The use of this technology is intended to reduce their isolation and equip them with the tools they need to engage girls in high quality education.

One of the activities that the AoC teachers run across schools in rural Malawi is an interactive radio programme. Teachers record radio drama shows to raise awareness on social themes and issues. Listeners who want to change the narrative of these shows send free mobile phone messages to Tiphunzire! and request to change the storyline - characters or plot. They are then invited to present their own version of the story on the radio, making their voices heard to people across the country.

Education, Girls

According to the project's baseline report, "A significant barrier that keeps girls out of school in Malawi is poor sexual reproductive health. In Malawi, almost 9% of girls who dropped out of school in 2010 did so because of early marriage and pregnancy, citing also embarrassment around menstruation as a reason for missing school."

At the start of the project, two research surveys were conducted to help better understand the context: the Child Protection Survey [PDF] and the Early Marriage Survey [PPT].