From teen pregnancy to abuse, Malawi’s youth radio tackles taboos

When Doreen Sakala fell pregnant as a 15-year-old schoolgirl in Malawi, she felt alone and worried about her future—until one day she switched on the radio. She was stunned to hear young people discussing the educational challenges faced by pregnant teenagers in the southeastern African country, where youth-led radio is helping tackle taboos from child marriage and sexual abuse to HIV. Five years after Sakala first began listening to the "Let's Shine" radio programme, she felt she was ready to go back to complete her secondary school education, and dreams of training to become a doctor. About 400 youth reporters have been trained so far to research and host radio shows with nine stations across the country, covering culturally taboo topics including sexually transmitted diseases and contraception. Far from Malawi's big cities, the chief of Nzenje village near the Zambian border, said teen-led radio shows have contributed to the dissolution of six child marriages, with another three currently in the process of being dissolved.