FEMALE COUNCILLORS GANG UP TO RAISE AWARENESS ON COVID VACCINE

 By Franklin Mtambalika 

Female councilors under the Malawi Local Government Association have mainstreamed sensitization messages on gender based violence and Covid-19 vaccine to address myths causing havoc in their communities.

With support from the Gender Coordination Network NGO-GCN and UN Women, the 66 female councilors have been engaging community members, police and traditional leaders in their respective wards to get a glimpse of how they are handling myths surrounding the ongoing Covid-19 vaccination exercise.

On the other hand the female councilors are also sensitizing the masses on different forms of abuse under the gender based violence component targeting women and children.

Speaking to Timveni after conducting one of such meetings at Chimutu ward in Lilongwe’s area 18 on Sunday afternoon, councilor for the area Natasa Esther Sagawa who is also vice president for councilors female caucus in Malawi hailed the initiative for "creating a platform for stakeholders to digest common grounds and suggest solutions to different challenges affecting communities."

The meeting was graced by Lilongwe city mayor Juliana Kaduya who called for "collaboration among various stakeholders in the city to address gender based violence."

Kaduya also encouraged those that have not taken their covid-19 jab to do so by dispelling all the rumours that are preventing people from getting inoculated.