Center for Governance and Leadership (CEGOL) is a Malawian based Non-governmental Organization that strives to advance youth and women leadership in civic and democratic processes. Conceptualized in March 2019, CEGOL is an independent, not-for-profit organization that focuses on Good governance and participation, Economic Empowerment and Employment, Environment and Climate change as well as Sexual Reproductive Health Rights.
On 14th June, 1993 Malawians voted against one party state and ushered in a new dawn of multiparty democracy. Democracy is built on equity, participation, representation, freedom, justice and human rights among other key elements. Looking at these tenets, it is clear that every citizen, be it young or adult, male or female has got full right and responsibility to participate in public life towards social, economic and political development of our country. However, close to three decades of our democracy, young people and women have experienced various limitations in as far as their participation in political and civic spaces is concerned. We have seen limited number of young people and women participating and being voted into office. We have observed most youth and women not taking frontline action in the development agenda of their communities and we have also observed mileage of abuses on the rights of young people.
Malawi is part of global village and is a signatory to a range of broadly ratified human rights treaties and conventions that refer to equality and other fundamental values, as standards against which all polices are judged and held accountable. Youth and women in Malawi are in majority just as other African countries and beyond. However, they have not been empowered fully and that the playing field has not been levelled for inclusive participation. Equality can underpin anew development agenda based on key elements such as participation, transparency, accountability, non-discrimination, empowerment, rule of law and social inclusion. At CEGOL we believe that these principles can provide practical guidance to design and assess development strategies in promoting good governance for better democracy.
CEGOL is an inspiration of Generation Democracy (GenDem) Program under International Republican Institute (IRI). Further, our programming is motivated by the democratic dispensation that provides an opportunity to promote values of civic participation, engagement, social accountability and economic governance amongst citizens
