The Foundation's executive director David Odali says this gives hope that the youth will be saved from sexually transmitted infections, unwanted and early pregnancies which are rampant in the district.

He says they are using football as a methodology to reach out to the young people with messages on the matter.

“With funding from the French embassy to South Africa, Lesotho and Malawi, we are implementing a very short project in areas of traditional authorities Njema and Mabuka in Mulanje where we are targeting adolescent young people with information on sexual reproductive health rights.  

“We have seen behavior change among the adolescents. Most of them have information which has empowered them on their rights. They have known their rights to choose who to have sex with, when and where to get sexual reproductive health. There is demand for sexual reproductive health services,” he said.

Odali told journalists in Blantyre on Saturday that Mulanje is one of the districts with high rate of sexual transmitted infections, early and unwanted pregnancies and early marriages; hence, the project.

“All this burden the young girls. This programme is using the concept of football to deliver information to educate these young people through their football teams. The project trains male and female football coaches on how to deliver this information using football in their communities,” he said.

Umunthu Foundation is working with TACKLE in the project implementation.