Teams Advancing Women in Agriculture
(TAWINA)
For rural communities in Malawi, school closures and restrictions in movement due to the pandemic mean an increased threat to the rights of the young women and girls. With increased carework and financial strains on the family, a lot of them are forced to drop out and/or are married at a very early age. Being trapped indoors leaves them vulnerable to domestic and sexual violence and isolation. TAWINA knew that the future of an entire generation was in peril, and they reached out to their long time partner Women First to help them resist the imminent roll-backs of the rights of women and girls they serve.
Their response strategy involved a multifold of measures to support over 300 girls and young women of their community. Through their emergency grant, they were able to provide the essential mental health and wellbeing support to their staff, volunteers, and beneficiaries. They also converted their office (called the TAWINA Centre) into a community space, where women, girls, and allies could safely congregate. They offered trainings in sewing face masks, which both increased the participants’ income and community preparedness. The Centre was also a space for young girls outside school where they can just be kids, and regularly held activities such as dancing and games. TAWINA also expanded their regular Women First funded program to involve new beneficiaries in order to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on their incomes and livelihood.
“The Women First Emergency Grant contributed to the improved mental health and wellbeing of TAWINA staff, volunteers, and beneficiaries. While other organizations had laid off employees and businesses were closing, TAWINA thrived because of the grant which opened new income streams for the organization.”
TAWINA has been actively engaged in sensitizing their community about COVID-19 and it’s unseen impact on women and girls. With their funds, they were also able to develop information materials that were targeted specifically to adolescent girls, teen mothers, and child marriage survivors. Currently, they are spearheading the coalition of community leaders, literacy groups, and other CBOs, and are implementing longer-term measures that will help them minimize the impact of the pandemic and accelerate recovery after its over.
ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION
Teams Advancing Women in Agriculture (TAWINA) is an indigenous female youth-led organization in Malawi that provides a platform for rural girls and women to connect and engage to transform their lives and communities. It works in communities that are plagued by injustices such as child and forced marriage, sexual harassment, and and inadequate space for political and economic participation for rural girls and women. TAWINA was founded with a mission to introduce systemic mechanisms that will help women and girls secure their human rights, empower themselves financially and politically, and have agency over their own future.
Women First is supporting TAWINA implement their program titled Mayi ndi Mayi pa Chuma (meaning women working together in business). The program targets widows and single mothers raising adolescent girls who are most vulnerable to child and forced marriages. They empower these women through bolstering their business skills, organize them into VSLAs and production groups, and link them with bigger markets and networks that help them maximize their income. This program fits within TAWINA’s larger strategy of mobilising the women and girls of their communities around education, SRHR, female leadership, and economic empowerment. Their eventual goal is to change the course of lives of the girls born in rural Malawi to one where they are free to pursue the kind of life they want without the threat of violence, injustices, or discrimination looming over them.