By Kondwani Magombo

Lilongwe, Mana: Malawi Government has commended World Vision Malawi for successfully advancing gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) and mindset change agenda, turning the country into a global learning centre.

Minister of Gender, Children & the Elderly, Dr. Patricia Kaliati, made the commendation on Monday at Bingu International Convention Centre (BICC) in Lilongwe during the official launch of World Vision GESI Global Learning Forum.

The minister said by integrating GESI and advancing the mindset change agenda, World Vision Malawi is advancing Malawi 2063, the country’s ambitious development agenda.

“I am happy to hear that World Vision is in full gear integrating gender equality and social inclusion in its programming; you deserve an applause,” said Kaliati.

“There is no meaningful development when men and women do not treat each other as equal partners,” added Kaliati.

She described World Vision Malawi as “a great partner in complementing government’s efforts.”

The minister further noted that the nonprofit-making organization has reached out to 16,000 households in Malawi with training on GESI.

World Vision Malawi National Director, Francis Dube, said it has taken a lot of planning and commitment for his organization to come top across the globe in the implementation of GESI.

He said to achieve the status, World Vision Malawi designed programmes that allow all genders and all citizens of the country to equally participate in decision-making and development processes.

“We do have programmes that focus on adolescent girls and young women, which, by design, is very great because they (adolescent girls and young women) are mostly disadvantaged,” explained Dube, adding: “We have also introduced some processes that allow boys to engage in and be part of the journey.”

According to Dube, World Vision Malawi has registered long strides in the implementation of GESI through the organization’s project dubbed ‘Transforming Household Resilience in Vulnerable Environments (THRIVE).’

The National Director said in implementing THRIVE, his organization uses an approach called Empowered World View (EWV), which targets transforming household gender dynamics and relations through positive behavioural change and perceptions at family and community levels.

Dube has since assured Malawi Government and all stakeholders that his organization will continue being the country’s “partner of choice in delivering development”.

The World Vision GESI Global Learning Forum will run up to Friday, May 27, and it has drawn participants from at least 10 countries across the globe where World Vision is implementing its projects.

The participating countries include Indonesia, Honduras, Cambodia, USA, South Sudan, Sierra Leone, Zambia, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Malawi.

Apart from allowing participating countries to learn from Malawi’s success stories, the GESI Global Learning Forum will help participating countries to share experiences and draw lessons from each other on how best they can integrate GESI in different sector programming.

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