From 2007 to 2022, we trained pre-service teachers in government Teacher Training Colleges across Malawi how to protect their sexual and reproductive health. This included giving all young teachers an opportunity to test for HIV.

We also trained them how to facilitate participatory child-centred approaches so that they could improve the sexual and reproductive health of children in Primary Schools throughout their careers.

Once teachers graduated from the colleges, they set up Life Skills clubs in the Primary Schools and listened, with their learners, to our weekly Tisinthe! Interactive Radio Drama Programme.

The teachers also organised events in the community – like Interactive Theatre performances and Community Open Days – to bridge learning between schools, families and community members.

Our partnership with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology was underpinned by a Memorandum of Understanding that identified Theatre for a Change as a key service provider for sexual and reproductive health education in Teacher Training Colleges and Primary Schools.

We are grateful to the Medicor Foundation for having supported this vital work.