Published by
TDPel Media
TDPel Media
Had village elders not intervened in stopping her parents from marrying her off at 13, Catherine Mkandawire would have become another statistic. Malawi has one of the highest child marriage rates in the world: 42 per cent of girls are married before 18 and 9 per cent before age 15. By avoiding that fate, Ms. Mkandawire was able to get an education and earned an advanced degree in community development. Now 28, she is a climate advocate and a leader in UNFPA’s Safeguard Youth Programme, funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, which champions youth, including protecting girls…