Malawi has an incredibly young population, with 40% of the population under the age of 15. The involvement of youth in participating in sustainable development in Malawi is therefore imperative for the country’s development.

Combat youth club in Komehera village in Phalombe district depicts the role young people can actively play in the development of their community. United Purpose trained Combat members on how to support vulnerable groups to own household sanitary facilities and since then, the youth club has been at the forefront of promoting sanitation in their community by constructing latrines, hand washing facilities and  rubbish pits for vulnerable groups such as the elderly, windows and child headed families. These youths that are trained in promoting sanitation from the youth club are part of a group called “Young people we care”.

“We were trained in WASH approaches such as Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) and School-Led Total Sanitation (SLTS). We were also trained on how to support vulnerable groups to acquire sanitary facilities such as latrines by United Purpose” narrated Maxwell Mavuko, secretary of combat CBO youth club.

Since the training, the youth club has helped 10 vulnerable household with construction of latrines and rubbish pits. “After we were trained, we organised meetings with the chiefs, during which we asked them to identify the vulnerable people who do not have sanitary facilities so that we should construct them. The chiefs were very supportive in introducing us to these households, and we then constructed the latrines for them,” added Maxwell.

70-year-old Magadalina Jailosi is one of the people that has benefitted from the initiative. The youth club constructed a latrine for Magadalina, as she was not able to construct her own latrine. “I am very grateful for the latrine that the youths have constructed for me. I used to go to the bush in order to relieve myself, which was very dangerous for a woman of my age. I am glad that I now no longer use the bush and I have my own latrine,” explained Magadalina.

“For us and as youths, promoting sanitation is the best thing we are doing in our community, rather than indulging ourselves in bad behaviours and other malpractices which can cause problems for us such as being arrested or contracting HIV/AIDS” narrated Teleza Joseph, treasurer of the Combat youth club.

The youth club also does awareness campaigns on hygiene and sanitation in their village. “I am very proud of the Combat youth club. They have improved sanitation in my area and I will encourage them not to stop the good work they are doing” said the group village headman Komehera.