The number of children orphaned because of the HIV/AIDS pandemic face many problems long before the death of their parents or their guardians. Children have to live with a sick parent and watch the parent deteriorate and eventually die. These children often face loss of family and identity, increased malnutrition and reduced opportunities for education. Without adequate care or support many of these children become marginalised, exposed to child labour and sexual abuse and face increased risk of HIV infection.
An AIDS orphan is defined as an under-15 year of age whose mother or both parents died due to AIDS or HIV/AIDS related illnesses. Such orphans are in need of special care even more than those orphaned due to other causes. First, some of them may themselves be HIV positive. Secondly, those who may have a surviving parent are faced with a high probability of having to carry the burden of caring for him/her and subsequently loosing him/her for the same reason. According to UNAIDS, the number of children living with an HIV-positive parent may be even greater than the number of children already orphaned. Thirdly, AIDS orphans are also likely to be stigmatised by the community and the civil society.
Most of the orphans are cared for by extended families. However, with the increase of the number of orphans and the increase of adult mortality and the deteriorating economic situation, extended families are no longer able to cope. Increasingly the children are being cared for by their grandparents and in most cases the grandparents themselves are in need of care. Further, where the extended family finds it too burdensome to look after the orphans, they abandon them to fend for themselves. In this circumstances most of the children drop out of school to earn a living and are exposed to other forms of exploitation and abuse, augmenting the number of street connected children and child workers.
Problems faced by most orphans include lack of food, shelter, clothing and health services, poor guardianship, psychological burden, stigmatisation attached to HIV/AIDS, discrimination, exploitation (both economic/ sexual), and being used as cheap labour by either guardians or employers. Some are also forced into criminal activities.
Under these circumstances the rights of these children continue to be violated. The death of the parents robs the children of the right to parental care, which the extended family is also failing to offer. The right to protection is further reduced by the neglect and exploitation suffered later by the children. The lack of food, shelter, clothing and health care adversely affects the children’s right to survival. Dropping out of school and the lack of a nurturing environment violates the children’s right to development.
Uncategorised
A study conducted by UNICEF in 1999 has estimated that 3% of the total Malawi population are persons with disabilities. About a third of them (31%), are children who are 15 years and below.
Eye of the Child situation analysis has shown that young people with disabilities in Malawi face social isolation and discrimination. A large number of children with disabilities do not attend school due to financial problems, objections from parents or simply because school facilities are too far or don’t cater for their needs. Those in school find problems with travelling to school, communication, and lack of attention and discrimination form the part of the teachers and fellow students.
Children with disabilities are often prohibited from meaningfully participating in their families’ and their communities’ lives. They often lack basic health care and they are at great risk of experiencing physical, psychological abuse and sexual exploitation.
Girls are often more vulnerable to different forms of gender-based violence, abuse, and exploitation. They continue to suffer from several forms of discrimination and inequality especially in rural areas. There are a number of traditional and cultural practices that negatively affect girls.
There is also low participation of the girl child in education and in public life in general. Factors that contribute to this position include low persistence in school, low achievement, low quality of education and sexual and other forms of abuse in the school. The lack of education perpetuates the lack of confidence and disempowers the girl child from being assertive and making independent choices. This also contributes to the low participation of girls in public life even in later years. A girl’s education is seldom considered important, and it’s sacrificed for early marriages.
Girls also suffer poorer health and nutritional status than boys. The problem is further compounded by poor reproductive health. Most girls become sexually active at an early age and thereby becoming prone to teenage pregnancy, abortion, and exposure to venereal diseases. Complications related to early pregnancies and maternal deaths, lack of obstetric services and safe abortion come also in the picture.
Vulnerability of girls has been increased by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Statistics have shown that the rate of infection is higher amongst girls than boys. Apart from the reasons raised above the increase has also been attributed to the practice and belief by adult males that having sex with a virgin will cure them of HIV/AIDS.
Girls become more vulnerable when found in other vulnerable positions. As a child worker girls suffer sexual abuse and double heavy workload when they have to combine the work at home and that outside the home.
Introduction
Despite all efforts and guarantees of rights, the survival, the development, justice, and protection of children remain problematic. This is manifested in inadequate access to basic resources like food and water and services like health and education. The above factors are complicated by structural problems that perpetuate the unequal distribution of resources, the discrimination, and the exclusion of children.
Malawi’s population is estimated at 18.2 million in 2017, four times higher than in 1966, and will reach 30 million by 2030. The population is overwhelmingly youthful, with 48 per cent below the age of 15.3. While the population of Malawi is currently and expected to remain mostly rural, the country has one of the highest rates of urban growth in Africa (3.8 per cent). High population growth places significant strain on the capacity of the Government to provide essential services.
Women in Malawi fare worse than men on most social and economic indicators, including wage equality, political participation, exposure to violence, secondary and tertiary education enrolment, literacy and ownership of land and assets. Female-headed households are more likely to be poor and are disproportionately represented in the lowest quartile of the income distribution. Multi-dimensional child poverty estimates show that 63 per cent of children are deprived in two or more domains.
The problem of child marriages is a sad reality in Malawi and that the problems affect about 33 percent of the young women between the age of 15 and 19 who are in some form of permanent union. This exposes these women to a plethora of human rights violations. Among the rights which are compromised by child marriages are: life, human dignity, health, education, and development. In extreme cases, child marriages also expose girls to various forms of servitude, sexual abuse, and exploitation.
The Malawi government recognize child marriages as a danger to the physical and reproductive health of the child, with girls under the age of 18 at a much higher risk of pregnancy-related injuries such as fistulas. As such it has reform its Constitution on the age of the child from 16 to 18 and remove parent powers for granting any concept to marriages of any person below the age of 18 and amended the Penal Code that now define a child as all persons below 18 years. Recently Government also launched a Strategic Plan to provide leadership, guidance and oversight in national efforts of eliminating the problem of child marriages in Malawi. The Plan articulates the key strategies employed in this important undertaking, the management structure and roles of stakeholders in implementing the Plan in the next five years. Eye of the Child is now supporting the implementation of the Plan of action.
Welcome to Eye of the Child Training and Consultancy department. The Department has been providing professional and quality training and consultancy services to Organizations and Individuals working with Children in Malawi and around the world since 1995. The department provides both organizations based and tailor-made training and consultancy services.
View our Training service leaflet for training opportunities. Please contact us for more information including training duration, fees, venue, registration process and dates for the next training.
The Department design and deliver a wide range of courses and programmes for Institution and Individuals working with children to meet specific needs and requirements. The services include: -
- identifying specific training requirements.
- devising training courses and programmes to meet identified needs.
- delivering the training; and
- Undertaking evaluations on the effectiveness of any training delivered.
The Department can submit a proposal for your approval and deliver the training at a venue and date agreed with you. The department provides participants with a course pack, programmes and other relevant information. If the course you require deals with a specialist subject, department will ensure that one of the trainers has knowledge and experience in that area. All of our trainers have professional training qualifications and training experience.
Training Needs Analysis
An investment well spent brings you the best return. How do you ensure your investment in training is well spent?. Our Training Needs Analysis service helps you to identify precisely the learning needs in your organization. It will also help you to ensure that the learning medium, content and outcome of training reflect your specific needs. We will work with you to find the best way to ascertain what knowledge and skills are needed, whether across the whole organization, or for a group of staff or individuals or your beneficiaries and target audiences.
Consultancy Service
The consultancy services are offered in the area of training, research and evaluation. Arrange to meet with one of our senior consultants to identify your training and development needs. The initial stage of this service is a negotiation either by telephone or a face-to-face consultation meeting with one of our senior consultants who has a wealth of knowledge and skills. During this consultation, your needs are established and the appropriate services will be identified. Once it is clearer what kind of support you require, timescales will be worked out, consultants identified, and a more detailed programme of services will be planned. Let us help you with what we have done for other organizations: -
1. Develop the Project Proposal
2. Develop Strategic Plan
3. Develop Fundraising Plan
4. Develop Child Protection Policies
5. Business Plan Development
6. Research on all issues related to Children
7. Facilitate your workshops
8. Conduct Baseline survey
9. Evaluate your projects
10. Develop Advocacy Plan
11. Design Training materials for you
12. Design Social mobilization materials for you
13. Develop monitoring tools for you
14. Design your websites
15. Design your membership programme for you
16. Organization management and operation tools
17. Business Plans
18. Advertise and market your product to Parents and Children in Malawi
PAST SERVICES
The Department has in past 22 years offer trainings and consultancy services in Malawi, USA, Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Africa, Lesotho and Tanzania in the following areas:-
1. Business Development Training
2. Basic Training in Child Protection
3. Training of Trainers in Child Protection
4. Child Protection on Service Training
5. Development of Child Protection Policies
6. Training of Trainers workshop
7. Parenting Skills
8. Training in Positive Discipline skills for Teachers and Parents
9. Protecting Children online
10. Child Care, Protection and Justice (ACT 2010)
11. Case Management
12. Fundraising Training
13. Proposal Writing Training
14. Understanding Child Rights and Responsibilities
15. Child Rights Based Approaches Training
16. Early Child Development (ECD)
17. Child Rights Monitoring and Reporting Training
18. Prevention of Vandalism’s in Schools Training
19. Child Counseling Training
20. Policy and Media Advocacy
21. Service learning Training for College Students
22. Project Management
23. Project Development and Management on Service Training
24. Monitoring and Evaluation
25. Social Welfare in Services Training;
26. Understanding Trafficking in Persons
27. Research Skills – How to interview Children
28. Life Skills
29. Social Entrepreneurship
30. Paralegal Skills Training
31. Rural and Community Development Training
32. Promoting Child Participation
33. Story Telling Skills
34. Understanding and Practical use of Children Laws in Malawi
35. Working with Children Courts
OUR PAST CLIENTS AND PARTNERS
The Department present and past clients include but not limited to:-
1. Firelight Foundation – California - USA
2. World Vision Malawi
3. United Nations Children’s Fund – Lilongwe Malawi
4. Action Aid Malawi
5. African Child Policy Forum – Ethiopia
6. Save the Children – USA - Malawi
7. Plan International
8. SOS Malawi
9. Norwegian Church Aid - Malawi
10. Malawi Human Rights Commission
11. Malawi Police Services
12. Malawi Defense Force –Child Rights and Peace Keeping Mission
13. Ministry of Gender, Disability, Children and Social Services
14. Blantyre Synod - Malawi
15. Seventh Day Advertise Church – Children Ministries - Malawi
16. Media Council of Malawi
17. National Youth Council of Malawi
18. Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture
19. Catholic University – Students Service learning Programme
20. Chancellor College - Students Service learning Programme
21. Malawi Polytechnic – Students Service learning Programme
22. Stanford University, USA ,Students Service learning Programme
23. Justice Children Trust – Harare, Zimbabwe
24. Chiedza Community Based Orphan Welfare Organization, Mbare, Zimbabwe
25. Touch Root Africa, Maseru, Lesotho
26. Empilweni Organization, CapeTown, South Africa
27. Kwa Wazee Organization, Tanzania,
28. Youth for Change Organization, Lusaka, Zambia
29. Lupwa Lwabumi Trust, Lusaka, Zambia
We care, provide social welfare and development of vulnerable children and poor families livelihood.
We name our safe home, Gateway of Hope. It is a registered Safe House in Lilongwe used by Women and Children who victims of Gender Based Violence and Trafficking in Persons. Most of victims at Gateway of Hope suffered sexual assault by forced men in a brothel and families. Some victim come to the Safe House under extreme stress reactions, trauma, depression, and multiple medical problems including Anxiety, Chronic pain, or sometimes complications from unsafe abortion, Contusions, Depression, Fractures, Gastrointestinal problems, Oral health problems, Pelvic pain, Posttraumatic stress disorder, Sexually transmitted infections, Suicidal ideation, Unhealthy weight loss, Unwanted pregnancy, and Vaginal pain just to mention a few problems.
Since its establishment in June 2020 the Safe Home has provided protection, care, accommodation and rehabilitate 369 victims who are citizens of Malawi, Uganda, Pakistan, Thailand, South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Zimbabwe trafficked into Malawi for commercial sexual exploitation, forced labour, organ removal and some as carries of illicit drugs and victims of gender based violence.
The Safe Home was established as a direct response to the request made by the Ministry of Homeland Security and stakeholders in Malawi for urgent need and assistance towards care and safe accommodation for victims of human trafficking especially women and children and reports by the United States of America, Department of States on trafficking in Persons that express concern over the conduct of law enforcement agencies in Malawi who mix victims of human trafficking with offenders and convicts due to shortage of Safe Homes.
We provide free legal support, counselling services and protection to children and mothers affected by abuse, conflict, violence, and exploitation in Malawi.