The Capricorn High School alumni is one of nine girls across the country who represent their province in the Generation Equality fellowship and has been tasked with reaching out to local government departments to monitor and hold them accountable for commitments they made towards issues affecting adolescent girls and young women.
“These issues vary from teenage pregnancy, gender-based violence (GBV), mental health, menstrual health and hygiene as well as HIV,” she explained.
Generation Equality was started by an organisation called Sesi Fellowship and Skill Hub. Mahlako took interest in the three-month programme which seeks females from between the ages of 15 to 24 years old.
“They wanted people who are passionate about social development and advocating gender equality in their communities,” she said. She further explained that the role requires somebody that is willing to do research on these social ills, do advocacy training as well as drafting reports and letters to various stakeholders while raising awareness.
“The generation equality campaign demands equal pay, equal sharing of unpaid care and domestic work, an end to sexual harassment and all forms of violence against women and girls,” she added. She has already brought attention to GBV in Limpopo because of its high prevalence yet convictions remain low.
Mahlako believes that engaging government is often overlooked in campaigning and advocacy work. She stated that if government is determined to bring change, they must allow people to hold them accountable.
“We are in the process of drafting letters based on research reports to various government departments as well as social media content to draw awareness to the campaigns and get answers from government,” she said.
