Mentorship program

Our mentorship program is LBP’s longest serving program because it has been successfully implemented in four (4) different secondary schools in Zomba (southern Malawi) since 2014, namely:

  • Primiti community secondary school (2014)
  • Malindi secondary (2015-2016)
  • Chirunga community secondary school (2017)
  • Police secondary school (2018 - 2019)

Through LBP Mentorship program, we have reached 165+ girls in Zomba who are in the age group 14-19years old. The LBP mentorship prgram runs once a weekly for a 15-20 week cycle with 35 beneficiary girls in each cohort (/school). Our unique mentorship program is a platform for the interaction and relationship between secondary school girls and their mentors (who are female university students aged 18-22years old). This results in the girl’s long-term empowerment through LBPs mentorship program have been:

  • Providing opportunities for participation and decision making in areas that are critical to the girl’s futures (e.g. to plan and implement community development projects within their local areas)
  • Working on practical outcomes that are consistent with the girl’s hopes and dreams (e.g. setting goals, identifying further education options after secondary school etc.)
  • Valuing capabilities among the mentees and guide them to develop a rightly suited community project or business endeavor.
  • Mentor sessions are implemented one day at week at the beneficiary secondary school for 1.5 hours session.
  • Face-to-face; five-to-one (5:1) mentee to mentor ratio
  • Group work and team building activities facilitated by the university mentors
  • Discussions and problem-solving activities about overcoming obstacles to higher education that youth in Malawi face
  • Lessons and seminars taught by mentors
  • Career talks by guest motivational speakers

WHY GIRLS?

Ranking 8th in the world in 2012, 50% of Malawian women were involved in child marriage – which essentially means that the risk of vulnerability for marriage below the age of 18 years is higher in Malawi than other counters. Child marriage has consequential health and education effects on girls. Investing and securing the adolescent population is an effective way of consolidating the gains achieved for children in the early and middle years of life (UNICEF, 2014).