Miss Malawi first runner-up Ireen Navicha has intensified efforts to champion girl-child education, urging girls who dropped out to return to school. The initiative dubbed When a Mother is a Child is running in collaboration with Chimbota Community Development Organisation as part of her personal project through which she also engages community leaders to protect girls from abuse. In an interview yesterday, Navicha said through the initiative she engages girls from various villages in the country to remain committed to education.
“There are girls who have left school due to early marriages and teenage pregnancies. Through this initiative, we listen to their stories and encourage them to return to school,” she said. Navicha said this is an ongoing campaign to empower more girls in school.
She also thanked the Miss Malawi Organisation for providing her a platform to amplify such initiatives. She further appealed for support from the public to help with basic school necessities such as notebooks and stationery. Miss Malawi Organisation public relations officer Stephen Mdala said when they decided to bring back Miss Malawi, the vision was to rebrand and reposition the pageant in line with the year’s theme ‘beauty with purpose’.
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He said seeing Navicha actively engaging and making a difference in society is in line with the direction the pageant is taking. “This speaks to the vision of the pageant. As we put it, we did not want to be associated with beauty alone, but with impact as well.
This shows we are going in the right direction,” said Mdala. He said through the Miss Malawi Office they are able to financially support the women as they are working on community projects, although there are no dedicated funds for such initiatives yet. “From what we have as the Miss Malawi Office, there is a percentage that goes towards helping our runners-up, usually sourced from fundraising,” said Mdala.
He said the support also extends to finalists who submitted projects during the final stages of the competition, noting that when they are ready to launch, the Miss Malawi Organisation will, where necessary, provide support. Miss Malawi winner Thandie Chisi, during her coronation also pledged to work closely with the first and second runners-up and all contestants to ensure the pageant’s influence is sustained.
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