The Polytechnic signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with USAID FHI 360 which among others is aimed at building and strengthening capacity of the Polytechnic and offering social behavioural change communication.

The guest lecturer was Mr Dezio Macheso, who is a technical advisor of adolescent and youth at Health Policy plus, a US funded organisation. The title of the lecture was on Youth Sexual Reproductive Health Services, Access, Demand and Utilisation.

In the opening remarks, the Dean of the Faculty of Education and Media Studies Dr Mary Kamwaza explained that such occasions will help honour some Pillars of the Malawi Polytechnic.

“Today we are witnessing a milestone in the MOU as we launch the beginning of the series of Public Lectures. Through these lectures the Polytechnic is fulfilling one of its pillars in its strategic plan which relates to research and outreach. As an academic institution we have a responsibility to provide a forum where research findings can be shared and disseminated to the public as we are doing today,” she said.

“This is also an opportunity to engage the industry and get the feeling of what they do and what they expect, it is these kind of engagement with the industry that can help us to make sure we put the right content in our curriculum,” added Dr Kamwaza

The Dean concluded her remarks by stating that the world needs change in so many areas including the Youth Health Services, and that everyone including the youth, are Change Agents. 

The presentation included statistics of different researches such as the percentage of youths that are able to access reproductive health services, percentage of youth in the country which showed that 75% of the population in the country is made up of the youths. There were also presentations on statistics that showed that youth are being sexually active at a tender age.

One of the students who attended the occasion, Henderson Chakwana, a 1st Year Bachelor of Business Administration expressed his satisfaction from the lecture; “I am pleased and encouraged by the lecture, I have learned that one of the way of dealing with such issues is through peer to peer communication and the lecture has also encouraged me to remain faithful to my partner,” expressed Chakwawa.