GENET Programs Coordinator Biata Banda said this on Friday in Luchenza at the end of a three-day summer girls camp which attracted at least 100 out of school girls from all the nine Traditional Authorities in Mulanje district.

She said most projects target in school girls and those who dropped out of school are oftentimes ignored and they feel condemned.

Banda said such situations put them at the risk of being sexually abused.

"It is therefore very important to equip these girls with business and Sexual and Reproductive Health knowledge and the past three days we oriented them on gender and gender based violence, SRHR, HIV and AIDS and small-scale business management," said Banda.

She said girls who want to go back to school they should do so and those who do not have opportunity of going back to school they can start small scale businesses and become economically independent.

One of the role models during the girls’ camp was a 23 year old Georgina Banda.

She is a tailor and makes bungles and earrings and she urged fellow girls to have goals and work hard to achieve them.

'Let us accept that girls face a lot of challenges at school, in their families and in their communities but with determination and self-esteem, we can overcome these problems and become economically independent one day," said Georgina a mother of one.

One of the girls who attended the camp, Shammim Naperi from Safari village in T/A Njema thanked GENET for organizing the camp, saying the lessons learnt will transform her life.   

GENET is implementing Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW) project in Mulanje district with funding from the Global Fund through World Vision Malawi.