By Caroline Somanje
This year, UN Women celebrates 15th Anniversary. UN Women Malawi country representative Letty Chiwara speaks to Caroline Somanje about their decade–and-a half milestones.
What have been the most significant achievements, particularly in promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment?
We partnered with the Government of Malawi, civil society, traditional leaders, development partners, the private sector and communities to advance gender equality and empower women and girls.
Together, we have achieved meaningful progress. Malawi now has stronger laws to protect women’s rights, including the Gender Equality Act and the Marriage, Divorce and Family Relations Act, which raised the legal age of marriage to 18.
We have helped prepare over 500 women to run for elected office, supported cross‑party women’s caucuses and challenged stereotypes that keep women out of leadership. We also played a critical role in the development of the Women’s Manifesto, the first of its kind in 2019 which provided a blueprint for key demands from women across the country. This Manifesto has recently been revised as we prepare for the 2025 elections.
In the fight against gender‑based violence (GBV), the Spotlight Initiative has strengthened survivor services in over 14 districts, trained over 1 200 service providers and supported safe spaces for women and girls at risk.
UN Women has empowered thousands of rural women farmers with climate‑smart agriculture, better access to land and markets and digital tools, improving livelihoods and resilience.
We have also helped increase women’s participation in local peace committees and supported the production of better gender data to guide policies and budgets.
What are the biggest challenges facing women and girls in Malawi?
Women and girls still face persistent challenges: high maternal mortality, GBV, child marriage, limited economic opportunities, shrinking space in leadership and politics and digital exclusion.
Recent data shows that about one in three women experiences physical or sexual violence and nearly half of Malawian girls marry before 18, cutting short their education and future prospects. Maternal health risks remain acute, with preventable deaths still far too common.
UN Women Malawi, together with partners, is working to change this reality. Through the HeForShe campaign, thousands of men have become advocates against violence and champions of women’s rights. At the community level, traditional leaders such as Senior Chief Theresa Kachindamoto in Dedza, have courageously annulled thousands of child marriages, giving girls a second chance at education.
In rural areas, real stories bring this work to life:
Memory, a young mother from Mangochi, accessed life-saving antenatal care, thanks to a mobile clinic supported by UN Women and partners.
Agnes, a survivor of violence from Lilongwe, received counselling and legal aid at a One-Stop Centre, helping her rebuild her life safely.
In Blantyre, over 2 000 girls joined Girls in ICT clubs, learning coding and digital skills to compete in Malawi’s growing tech sector.
UN Women Malawi is also investing in women’s economic empowerment — supporting village savings and loan groups, skills training, and grants that enable women like Ethel in Mzimba to start small businesses and lift their families out of poverty.
We call on everyone — policymakers, development partners and traditional leaders to communities and the media — to stand together for equality, so that every woman and girl in Malawi can live free from violence, thrive and lead.
What opportunities do you see for advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment in Malawi?
Malawi has a real opportunity to accelerate gender equality by building on the progress we’ve already seen. For instance, we have strong laws against child marriage and visionary leaders such as Kachindamoto who’ve shown it’s possible to challenge harmful practices at the community level.
We also have a young, digitally connected population. By investing in girls’ leadership, digital skills and entrepr-eneurship, we can create a new gener-ation that sees equality as the norm, not an aspiration. Malawi Girls Can Code and the HeForShe programmes have already shown that change is possible when youth and men are given the space to innovate and drive change.
How crucial is male involvement in ending GBV?
In Malawi, like in many parts of the world, gender inequality is deeply rooted in cultural norms, traditions and everyday behaviours, especially those shaping how men and boys see their roles in society.
This is the heart of the HeForShe campaign: a movement launched by UN Women to inspire men and boys to actively stand up for gender equality and speak out against violence.
We work with male champions; chiefs, teachers, faith leaders and young men who are breaking harmful cycles and showing that masculinity can be a force for good.
Let me share the story of Chief Chikowi from Zomba District.
Through the HeForShe campaign, Chikowi became a vocal advocate against child marriage. He led open dialogues with fathers and boys, challenged the idea that a girl’s worth depends on marriage and introduced community by-laws that penalise those arranging underage marriages. As a result, dozens of girls who were married off too young have now returned to school and, perhaps even more importantly, boys in his community now see their sisters as future doctors, teachers and leaders — not just as brides.
Because true gender equality is not a women’s issue alone, it is everyone’s responsibility.
How does collaborating with key partners help achieve your goals?
Achieving gender requires strong partnerships at every level.
UN Women supports the Ministry of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare and other ministries to strengthen national policies and action plans, such as the National Gender Policy, the National Male Engagement Strategy (2023–2030), the National Action Plan on Gender-Based Violence. We also provide technical assistance to align national laws with global standards (e.g. Beijing Platform for Action, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and Sustainable Development Goals—SDGs).These partnerships have helped ensure gender equality is not treated as a side issue, but integrated into national development strategies, including Malawi Vision 2063.
Civil society and women’s rights organisations played a critical role in the creation of UN Women 15 years ago. UN Women supports networks of women living with HIV, women with disabilities and young women to raise their voices in policy spaces. We further amplify local innovations such as community watch groups and safe spaces for girls.
Working with chiefs and faith leaders has been transformative as it is through these local leadership institutions that we have witnessed local by-laws and community dialogues that shift attitudes, cultures and behaviour.
UN Women works with telecom companies and digital innovation hubs to support Girls in ICT and with banks, including NBS and the Standard Bank on women entrepreneurship. We further engage journalists to improve how stories of GBV and women’s leadership are covered.
What are the priorities in the next phase of your work?
The 15th anniversary comes at a critical time when we are witnessing global pushback on gender equality and on multilateralism. This year, the world celebrated the 30th Anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action. It is, therefore, critical that we do everything possible to protect the gains we have made since Beijing. We will continue to push forward for gender equality and women’s empowerment because without this, Malawi will not achieve its aspirations of Vision 2063 and SDGs. At the end of 2024, we successfully launched our five-year Strategic Plan (2024 – 2028) fully aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework. We remain steadfast in our resolve to change the lives of women and girls in Malawi in the five thematic areas of our work including, Ending Violence Against Women, Women Economic Empowerment, Governance and Women’s Leadership, Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Adaptation and Coordination for Gender Equality.
How will you support your cause in light of dwindling donor support?
In close collaboration with the Donor Group on Gender Equality currently chaired by the European Commission, we have initiated feminist dialogue sessions which have created spaces for women’s rights advocates, feminists and women’s rights defenders to come together to share their aspirations and strategies of how to navigate these challenging funding landscape.
Please share your last thoughts
The landmark day – 2 July 2010 is very personal to me. On that day, I was in New York and witnessed first-hand the birth of this baby we called UN Women. It had taken us years of advocacy and lobbying in the corridors of power at the United Nations. The journey was long and sometimes painful. But for me and many others who firmly believed in a stronger UN entity to drive gender equality and women’s empowerment, we welcomed the birth of UN Women and committed to serve it with all our might. I am convinced that this 15th birthday will make us come out stronger as UN Women. Let this anniversary remind all our partners – governments, development partners, civil society, private sector, media, traditional and religious leaders that investing in gender equality is the gateway to achieving the SDGs.