CHILD RAPE AND DEFILEMENT CASES IN MALAWI: “The Vulnerability of the Girl Child in Zalengera Village in Ntcheu District.”

Abstract

This study set out to investigate factors that make a girl child vulnerable to child rape and defilement in Malawi. Specific objective of the study were to examine reasons for rape and defilement, explore reasons as to why more girls are raped and defiled than boys and to find out reasons as to why most perpetrators of child rape and defilement are males.The study was done at Zalengera village in Ntcheu district. The study was qualitative and explorative as it focused on obtaining a detailed and clear picture on issues of child rape and defilement. A total of fifty people were interviewed during data collection. These included forty-two youths and eight key-informants. The sub-samples were selected using purposive sampling method. This is a method in which respondents with specific characteristics are consciously selected in order to meet the needs of the research question. The study employed individual interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs) as methods of data collection. In both individual interviews and focus group discussion, an in-depth interview guide administered by the researcher was used as a data collecting tool. Qualitative data obtained from both individual interviews and focus group discussions was analyzed manually to establish emerging trends, themes and patterns that were used to interpret the findings of the study.