Lusungu Kayira: Profile of a UNU-GEST Fellow 2015
Lusungu Zinzile Kayira is a passionate advocate for children´s and youth issues in Malawi, and is planning a change for her peers through her vision that young female graduates in her country should have access to internships during or at the end of their university studies.
Lusungu is a dedicated 21 year old social worker from Malawi, one of 8 sisters where focus on women´s issues were abundant. Wise beyond her years and one of the youngest fellows ever to graduate from the UNU-GEST post-graduate diploma programme in international gender studies at the University of Iceland. Her main ambition is to strengthen the position of other young women in her native Malawi and help them gain confidence, be independent and believe in themselves. Lusungu was interviewed during her study time in Iceland about her work experience in Malawi and the studies in Iceland. When asked about her decision to apply for the UNU-GEST fellowship she replied: “During my last year in social work I got the chance to work as an intern with an organisation working on child rights in Malawi, called the Eye of the Child. Today, I am a full-time employee. Through them I got the opportunity to apply for a UNU-GEST fellowship and I decided to do that as I knew it would advance my career possibilities. As I already had a BS degree in social work, gender studies were part of it”. It appealed to her to learn more on gender issues as many of the most pressing issues in Malawi have to do with issues that are gendered such as child marriage and violence against women.
What in particular will you take back home with you after having studied at UNU-GEST? “Many things, obviously, but most importantly I will use my new knowledge gained during my studies to improve professionally. The studies are very intensive for five months, and I would have wanted to stay longer and learn more. Many of the modules are very interesting at UNU-GEST and I learned for example through gender-responsive budgeting that when finance is distributed in projects, for example in the transport sector, one has to take into consideration how far people are travelling as many women in my country are travelling longer than men to get to work or to the market and then you need to allocate more finances for that.”
“The gender, peace and security module was also very interesting for me, someone who comes from a peaceful society such as Iceland; that module opened my eyes and I learned how badly war treats people, in particular families, women and children.”
What are your career plans once back home in Malawi?
“I will continue my job at Eye of the Child, working on the rights of the child. I would like to implement my final assignment in my work once I return home to Malawi and help set up placement schemes for young women in order for them to access internships and placements during their last year of studies or right after graduation from university. I would also like to implement a policy or advocacy strategy for parents to become more aware of their rights as well as the rights of their children. In doing so I would like to empower mothers with knowledge and hopefully improve the status of mothers in society.”
As for Lusungu´s UNU-GEST final assignment (see summary below), it got implemented by the organisation she was employed with. One of her long time goal is to teach about gender equality and women´s rights, and found her own organisation to work on issues she finds important. In that spirit, Lusungu fulfilled her vision and in the autumn of 2015 she formed her own NGO called Tikambirane Youth Group; a youth organisation using dialogue as a way of empowering young men and women in her local area (Chileka-Blantyre) to be participants in community development.
Lusungu and her Tikambirane Youth Group outreach work among college students during the 16 days of Activism against Gender-based Violence.
What did she make of living in Iceland?
“I did not expect Icelandic people to believe in hidden people, like elves. Icelanders are very busy people and very focused; at the University everybody is always studying and writing on their computers, while eating lunch – I found it amazing how well people used their time.”
Based on interview by Ásrún Birgisdóttir, an intern at the Icelandic Association of the UN, featured in the weekly newsletter of the Icelandic Development Agency, ICEIDA. The interview in Icelandic can be found here.
Social work in Malawi: Career Development in Female Youth
Lusungu´s final project proposal is on social work in Malawi and career development for the female youth in the country. The project aims to reduce the problem of unemployment and underemployment amongst young women in the field of social work in Malawi, through internship before graduation. The main objective of the project is to provide skills development training for female social work university students through internship. The specific objectives include: Interns developing identified skills within the two month timeframe of the internship, identifying training venues and opportunities for young women in 20 non-profit organisations and 50 female students participating in the internship program every year. The program will address three pillars key to social work and professionalism; counselling, community work and work ethics. Young women in rural areas face a number of obstacles when it comes to enhancing their skills in social work and obtaining or securing employment after graduation. These include cultural attitudes and stereotypes of gender as well as poverty. The project has adopted the theory of change approach for project implementation, and will therefore involve different stakeholders in each and every activity. Stakeholders include: Media, Civil Society Organisations, Ministries of Gender, Child, Disability and Social Welfare, Education and Youth and Development, University departments of Social Work in Public and Private Universities, policy makers, and the local community. Involvement of beneficiaries as partners in the project aim to secure the sustainability of the project.