Labour Minister Pledges Support for COMFED Graduates

Minister of Labour, Skills and Innovation Joel Chigona has pledged government support to 31 female graduates who benefited from COMFED Malawi’s internship, mentorship and apprenticeship programmes.

Chigona made the commitment on Wednesday in Lilongwe when he presided over the COMFED Malawi 2026 Tertiary Symposium.

He said government would do its best to involve the graduates in relevant programmes where they could gain practical experience and further develop the skills they acquired during their studies.

The Minister also warned against sexual harassment and abuse of the young women, saying government would not tolerate such acts.

He said his ministry would take action against individuals or institutions found abusing or sexually harassing the graduates.

Chigona urged the graduates to take advantage of every opportunity that comes their way, saying the future belongs to them.

“The government and institutions have done their part in educating them. The race is up to them now to focus on the future and see the way forward,” Chigona said.

Meanwhile, COMFED Malawi Board Chairperson McNight Kalanda said the organisation would strengthen partnerships with the private sector to create opportunities for graduates, including internships, employment and markets for their products and services.

Kalanda said following the graduation of the latest cohort, COMFED Malawi would now focus on assessing how best it could continue supporting other beneficiaries.

He said the organisation initially targeted supporting nearly 3,500 girls with education from secondary to tertiary level.

“What we have here is a second cohort. As I speak now, we are talking about around 1,200 who have graduated, and there are more in college than those who have graduated,” Kalanda said.

He emphasised the need to follow up on both the first and second cohorts to assess the impact of COMFED’s interventions and determine how beneficiaries are progressing through opportunities provided by the private sector and government ministries.

One of the graduates, Praise Benito, who studied Public Administration at the University of Malawi, said she had greatly benefited from COMFED programmes.

Benito said the programmes exposed her to people who became her role models and inspired her to pursue her career goals.

“I also got to share that with other people by being a role model to them. The programmes taught us to give back to the community, and that has helped me a lot,” Benito said.

According to COMFED Malawi, the organisation started supporting underprivileged girls and young women with education in 2009, initially operating in two districts.

The organisation has since expanded its programmes to 17 districts and currently supports about 13,000 girls in secondary schools and 1,700 students in tertiary institutions.

In total, COMFED Malawi says it has supported about 40,000 girls and young women, with more continuing to seek assistance from the organisation.