About NAWOLG

NAWOLG HISTORY AND BACKGROUND

NAWOLG came into being in 1996 with the idea of a gallant human rights fighter/activist Mrs Faustace Chirwa with the support of 25 members representing all the sectors of the economy. The Organization cropped up after discovering that Malawi, women who are a majority of adult population (51.8% according to) were poorly represented in decision-making positions, at an average of approximately 9%. The NAWOLG’s establishment is with the acknowledgement that every human being in society is entitled to enjoy human rights and have them protected by law. As for membership, it is open to all women, girls and gender sensitive men committed to fighting for the gender inequality manifested in the Malawian society. The main beneficiaries of our Organization are women and girls especially in the underserved communities.

NAWOLG over the years has had extensive grassroots experience reaching over 1 million communities. We have undertaken successful projects that involve participation of excluded and marginalized poor groups in community development; elections and electoral processes; the 50:50 campaigns; training of women aspiring candidates; training women MPs; trained and deployed community volunteers in both targeted areas. NAWOLG currently works with district structures volunteers (male and female) who are trained area civic educators and are vital components in the project structures who link with the district coordinators. NAWOLG has a local and National presence. In 2009 elections, NAWOLG contributed highly in sending 7 women to parliament in our direct impact areas and all 43 in total during our national campaign of 50/50 as NGOGCN. In addition, NAWOLG brought change in attitude and behaviors of communities towards women and girls in leadership; increased number of women taking up community leadership positions i.e., area development committees, local government, churches, school committees; trained confidence women speaking in public forums etc.

NAWOLG trained communities who had no prior knowledge on how to hold local governments and elected leaders to be accountable. NAWOLG set up women’s listeners clubs in 4 districts and young women’s clubs in 3 districts to empower them to take up leadership positions and promote women’s rights. In addition, the women’s clubs conduct different initiatives that include humanitarian work and income generating activities that have empowered them economically leading to investments in education for their children especially the girl child; affording basic needs; starting small scale businesses through village saving loans (popularly known as village vessels/banks).