Have you ever thought about what your life would have been like without an education? It's not just the big things. It's the everyday things too.

Would you able to check whether the medicine you'd been given was the right one, the correct dosage, read the side-effects? If you had a child, could you register their birth, spell their name? How would you feel if they handed you a book and asked you to read to them or help them with their homework? Would you know which candidate to select on a ballot or catch a bus somewhere you'd never been?

Education is not how well you can read and write but whether you can communicate with and understand the world around you.

To reduce poverty and create lasting changes we must educate girls. When girls learn how to read, write and do sums, they lead longer, healthier lives. They are much less likely to become child brides or young mothers. Their increased income leads to greater financial independence, which gives them more bargaining power in their relationships with men, and they are less likely to suffer domestic violence. Whats more, their children inherit these advantages. It is a virtuous cycle.

Yet, in Malawi, only 13% of girls complete upper secondary school and among the poorest children this falls to 2% (UNICEF, 2019). And 42% of girls are married before the age of 18, with 9% married before the age of 15 (UNICEF, 2020).

We want to give girls in Malawi better opportunities to thrive in life. Our project will empower thousands of girls and young women with:

- Access to education and support for those most at-risk of dropping out of primary education, overcoming the barriers they face;

- Sexual and reproductive health education to enable girls to understand their development and their rights to health care and protection;

- Psychosocial support;

- Improved bathroom/toilet facilities at school;

- Tools to recognise when they are facing abuse at home, are at risk of marriage or are being pressured into sexual activity; and

- Mentorship and local leadership support from young women with backgrounds of rural poverty who have completed their education and share a deep commitment to giving back to their communities this helps both the female mentor and the girls whom the project supports.

About Us

Educate a Child International is a UK-based charity with a vision to ensure every child can benefit from a quality education. We work to provide a quality education to children who are denied this because of poverty, conflict, disaster, disability and discrimination. We work with our partners in low income and lower-middle income countries and support the children most in need particularly out of school children championing their needs to empower them to become active members of their communities. We work in alliance with the Education Above All (EAA) Foundation. This joint project is between Education Above Alls Educate A Child (EAC) programme and CAMFED.