Gender Inequalities, International Organizations, and the Development of Human Rights Education in Malawi

This instrumental case study applies an inductive method to explore and understand the relationships between national and international organizations in Malawi in their efforts of addressing gender inequalities through human rights education (HRE) programs. It uses the Malawi Human Rights Support Project (MHRSP) as the unit of exploration and analysis. Interviews were conducted with senior human rights officers, legislative officers, curriculum specialists, head teachers, a project officer and a primary school education advisor. Most of the participants were involved in the MHRSP, and they shared their expertise and experience in HRE. This study intended to address the following question: 1. How do international organizations play a role in human rights education in Malawi? 2. What relationships, if any, exist between national and international human rights actors in HRE programs in Malawi? 3. What are the resources available to human rights actors to address gender inequalities in Malawian primary schools? 4. How would human rights professionals describe the challenges/obstacles of HRE? To address these questions, the study applies Risse and Sikkink’s spiral model and Freire’s pedagogy of the oppressed. The Spiral model specifically addressed the collaborations among the human rights actors, while Freire’s theory analyzed the pedagogical processes used in the HRE projects. Three main themes emerged from the data collected, which include: 1. Cultural effects on human rights; 2. Domestic and international engagement; and 3. Institutionalization of human rights norms. The results show that the MHRSP established strong collaborations among the international and domestic human rights actors. The UNDP Malawi provided the financial resources promoted capacity building. Although there were levels of inadequacy among the domestic actors, their efforts contributed to a significant increase in the levels of awareness about human rights. However, pedagogical processes used in the HRE programs were not as effective because they only banked information into the people’s minds, but unable to awaken their critical consciousness. This study emphasizes that HRE is not just about depositing information into the learner’s cognitive mind, but it should lead to the change of behavior. If not, marginalized groups such as women and girls continue to suffer in silence.