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In Malawi, 38% of girls and 7% of boys marry before the age of 18. Spotlight Initiative in Malawi recognised that schools alone could not solve this problem, but identified them as a one stakeholder in prevention and response. Spotlight Initiative was designed to be deliberately multi-layered. Its Safe Schools intervention taught adolescents how to detect and report sexual and gender-based violence and harmful practices. At the same time, its One School, One Police Officer Initiative embedded the Malawi Police Service directly into schools and community structures, facilitating investigations…

Spotlight Initiative in Malawi supported a Safe Space Mentorship Programme (SSMP). The programme supported girls and young women from 10 to 24 years old, through a weekly programme that ran for 6 months, addressing sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), gender-based violence (GBV), harmful practices, referral pathways, and life skills. It aimed to empower young women and girls to recognise that violence is illegal, a violation of human rights, and to build the skills to sensitively challenge harmful social norms and behaviours that perpetuate violence against women and girls (VAWG)…

The Safe Space Mentorship Program (SSMP) in Malawi paired the establishment of safe spaces with mentorship programming. This programme supports girls and young women to report instances of violence and access resources and services. It also promotes gender equitable social norms, attitudes and behavioural change at community and individual levels. Focused on girls and young women from 10 to 24 years old, SSMP is a weekly 6-month programme that addresses gender perspectives, sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), gender-based violence (GBV), harmful practices (HP), referral pathways…

In Malawi, Spotlight Initiative commissioned an evidence review to inform programme and activity design, as well as identify knowledge gaps to inform the programme's research agenda. This research looked across and synthesised peer-reviewed and grey literature on Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV), Harmful Practices (HP) and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) in Malawi, including their causes and drivers. This revealed that drivers included religion, culture and educational attainment. Some of the extrinsic motivations, which came through this research process, included law…