Issue
Women’s organisations are under-represented in Malawi’s Covid-19 response planning processes and structures, despite government efforts to establish a dedicated ‘Protection Cluster’ to ensure that vulnerable groups are better protected during and post-pandemic.
How we are helping
This project will enable grassroots women’s organisations to participate in the Protection Cluster’s decision-making processes and structures. It will establish a taskforce to review and influence policy and programmes, engaging with relevant Ministries.
About the project
The Government of Malawi responded to the pandemic with a National Covid-19 Preparedness and Response Plan, launched in March 2020. It was developed as a cluster system approach and includes a ‘Protection Cluster’ that seeks to protect all vulnerable groups from violence, exploitation, abuse and neglect during disasters.
Grassroots women’s organisations are currently under-represented within the Cluster. This prevents women from engaging in the decision making and policy formulation processes at Cluster level; their voices are not heard and their needs, as a vulnerable group, are not adequately catered for within the response plan.
This project aims to enhance the participation of women’s organisations, groups and networks in Covid-19 response planning and decision-making processes.
This will be achieved by:
- Identifying and recruiting grassroots women’s organisations, networks and movements into the Protection Cluster.
- Supporting women-led grassroots organisations to attend physical and online national and district level Protection Cluster meetings to contribute to national response planning and implementation.
- Facilitating the setup of a CSO (civil society organisation) Protection Cluster Taskforce, with a minimum 50% women representation, and with representation of persons with disabilities and other marginalised groups, to undertake a systematic review of key policies, programmes, funds usage and vaccine rollout to assess their Covid-19 and gender responsiveness and suggest reforms.
- Supporting the CSO Protection Cluster Taskforce to create key knowledge products to influence policy and programme reforms – reports, policy briefs, factsheets and reports.
- Supporting ongoing advocacy engagement efforts, led by the CSO Protection Cluster Taskforce, with responsible line Ministries and parliamentary subcommittees.
Project Partners
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