In recognition of International Day of the Girl Child, NDI is celebrating the invaluable contributions of young women and girls globally who act as leaders and changemakers in their communities. Despite the persistent challenges preventing young women and girls from participating in civic and political life, NDI partner organizations are creating more gender-inclusive, democratic societies. To amplify the voices of young women and girls in all their diversity, NDI interviewed members of Purple Innovation, a youth and women-led nonprofit in Malawi that seeks to advance the economic empowerment of women, reduce gender-based violence (GBV) and raise awareness for women and girls with disabilities. Since 2021, Purple Innovation has expanded to implement good governance initiatives with support from USAID, UN Women, and NDI. 

Describe the early experiences or opportunities for young women and girls that impact their ability to engage in civic and political life. 

Purple Innovation: Young women in Malawi represent 52 percent of registered voters. They have the potential to be catalysts of social and economic development through meaningful political participation. However, a myriad of social and cultural obstacles hinder their peace and security. Unfortunately, one-third of women in Malawi experience physical violence by age 15 and one-fifth will experience sexual violence in their lifetime. Prevailing negative social norms and gender-blind governance systems create barriers to young women gaining access to political office. Child marriage remains alarmingly high, with nearly half of young women aged 20-24 being married before the age of 18. 

These persistent challenges limit access to education and the ability of young women to meaningfully participate in civic and political life. When girls drop out of school, they also miss out on important information about their rights and available GBV case referral pathways, perpetuating the cycle of violence. Lack of education also robs girls of access to employment and the knowledge, skills and resources to participate as political candidates. As a result, only 42 out of 193 members of parliament (21%) and 67 out of 450 councilors (14%) are women.

Describe the diversity of young women you work with. What challenges do they experience that prevent their political participation?

Purple Innovation: We work with vulnerable women and girls from urban and rural areas as well as women and girls with disabilities. We recently trained more than 450 GBV survivors from rural areas in northern Malawi, including young mothers and girls, in entrepreneurship, active participation, and digital literacy. What we’ve discovered is that women in rural areas lack financial support. As a result, they fail to meet basic needs in their homes, let alone participate in civic and political activities. 

We also work with young women in urban areas, empowering them with skills to advocate for economic opportunities and a more transparent society where women can flourish. For young women in urban areas, online and physical violence during electoral campaigns and lack of personal finances remain hindrances to meaningful political participation. 

In what ways is Purple Innovation working to ensure that young women and girls can exercise their rights and achieve equality in their communities?

Purple Innovation: We work to support young women and girls with financial resources and training to develop their digital literacy, leadership, entrepreneurship and advocacy skills. Through the Wukani Stop Violence Against Girls Project, we gave over 340 women financial support and entrepreneurship training to establish their own businesses, trained 200 women in budget tracking and digital literacy for active civic participation and provided 29 small grants to women’s rights groups and underserved organizations in remote areas of Malawi. 

In another program, we supported over 70 women with disabilities in gaining skills in the creative and circular economy. We’re currently providing school scholarships to five girls who were rescued from child marriage. We also partnered with Open Contracting Forum to advocate for the development of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) participation act by mobilizing women in Northern Malawi to share their experiences and expectations around procurement. We were successful in securing an order that mandates a percentage of contracts in public procurement be issued to women, youth and other marginalized groups. 

With the support of NDI Malawi, we also trained women investigative journalists in reporting corruption. These journalists have published stories that have contributed to creating a more open and transparent local government in Northern Malawi.  

In what ways have you seen young women challenge barriers to participation?

Purple Innovation: Over the past three years, we have seen an increase in the reporting of cases of GBV as women have learned how to report incidences through our community awareness campaigns. Through our programs, we’ve seen more women participating in public forums and entrepreneurship groups, such as cooperatives and village savings groups. We have also seen women participating for the first time in the development of Village Action Plans in Mzimba. In Nkhata-Bay District in Northern Malawi, one woman leader who participated in our programming now leads her own training initiatives that educate women on how they can break the silence on GBV. 

What needs to change in order for organizations like yours to better support young women and girls?

Purple Innovation: There is an urgent need to provide flexible, unrestricted, core, and project funding to grassroots women’s groups to ensure the sustainability of our efforts. Thankfully, organizations like NDI are providing leadership training and mini-grants. However, there is still a need to ensure that we can adequately replicate our services in rural areas. We also see a need for the government to remove barriers to entry, such as strict requirements and high registration fees for NGOs. Increased training, learning and opportunities for development alliances are also vital to ensure continued innovation, relevance of programming and a strong voice. Increasing online accessibility by reducing the cost of Wi-Fi and data will provide further leverage for grassroots women-led organizations to thrive.

What changes have you seen in the lives of women and girls in Malawi due to your work?

As a result of our work, more than 4,000 women and girls have directly and indirectly benefited from our programs in Northern Malawi. We’ve seen young women and mothers escape GBV and poverty by creating their own businesses. They are now able to sustain their families, support their children in school and stop the cycle of violence against girls. We’ve seen young women return to school after early marriages, and providers of social services and police officers are now more responsive to act on reported GBV cases. 

As we move towards the 2025 elections, it is our hope that our work will contribute to creating urgency on the need to invest in increasing the participation of women as candidates and voters.

What impact has NDI’s partnership had on your organization?

Purple Innovation: NDI has enabled Purple Innovation to expand into the governance space. We are now better able to actively promote transparency and the active participation of women and youth in democracy. Over the next two years, we anticipate gaining more support and scaling these efforts on the national level.

Related Stories:

Building the Capacity of Youth in Guinea

Youth Political Party Network Collaboration

"I stood on my own feet" - Next Gen Fellow and Young Malawian Poised to Lead

###

NDI is a non-profit, non-partisan, non-governmental organization that works in partnership around the world to strengthen and safeguard democratic institutions, processes, norms and values to secure a better quality of life for all. NDI envisions a world where democracy and freedom prevail, with dignity for all.