STORIES FROM THE FIELD - UNDP in Turkey

©UN Photo/Evan Schneiderof HIV and other health threats, and cultivatedlife skills, such as those required for decisionmakingand assertiveness. Livelihood traininghas assisted some like Jamiya Labisoni, whoat 16 has already been married and divorced.She jumped at the chance to learn to be abaker. “I can now support myself and myson”, she says. “The future looks bright”.Improving access to sexual and reproductivehealth information and services is a criticalprogramme component, given how often thelack of these can derail young lives. A cadreof girls has been trained not only to accessknowledge and services themselves but alsoto pass on what they learn to their peers. Othertraining has instructed service providers on howto offer care that is friendly and empowering toyoung people. In the programme area, more than4,000 adolescent girls turned to these servicesin the first six months of 2012, from a historyof almost no usage.To broaden understanding of issues facingadolescent girls and to inspire action on theirbehalf, the programme has helped to launchpublic advocacy campaigns and a seriesof dialogues with girls, community leaders,parents and school authorities. Early and forcedmarriages quickly emerged as a key concern.In Mangochi, local leaders proactively cametogether to create a committee that now reviewsand advises on cases of these marriages. Asa result, the number in the area has declined,and fewer girls are dropping out of school.With programme backing, community victimsupport units have been established in bothdistricts. Teams of health, development andchild protection workers, in partnership withrepresentatives from community policingnetworks, help to identify and respondto cases of violence against women andadolescent girls, including by reporting themto the police. Seventy adolescent girls havebecome community peer educators activein stopping gender-based violence.The many successes of the joint programmecannot mask the fact that Malawi as a wholefaces steep challenges in empoweringwomen and girls, one explanation for slowprogress towards the MDGs on poverty,education, gender equality and maternalhealth. Accelerating achievement will requirethe enhanced engagement of the centralGovernment as a catalyst for nationwidecommitment and action and changes inattitudes and behaviours across communities.A second prong of joint UN support for genderequality in Malawi has helped the Governmentto develop a strategic agenda for change. In2011, as Malawi began preparing its secondgrowth and development strategy spanning2011-2016, a 10-person delegation of highlevelexperts from UN regional offices, led by28 Synthesis of 2011/2012 Resident Coordinator Annual Reports