Helped girls to take charge

of their reproductive rights.

Facts

Difficult socio-economic circumstances and inadequate healthcare leave teenage girls and young women without the knowledge or resources to make informed choices about their sexual health and reproductive rights.

This lack of empowerment leads to a higher risk of contracting STIs, HIV/AIDS, and experiencing unplanned pregnancies. These consequences can disrupt their education, limit career opportunities, and prevent them from meeting their full potential.

38%

of girls in Malawi are married before the legal age of 18

1 in 5

girls in Malawi are sexually abused before their 18th birthday

1 in 3

new HIV infections in Malawi are among adolescent girls

15-19

year olds in Malawi are twice as likely to die in pregnancy and childbirth than women aged 20 and older

We worked to change that

In Malawi and Kenya, we joined hands with teenage girls to champion sex education and their reproductive rights. Their empowered choices are building stronger, healthier, wealthier communities.

What we did:

We partnered with and trained local organisations to establish women's listening groups, led entirely by young women in the communities themselves. The teenagers and young women critically assess the problems they face, and work together in a team to solve them.

With the help of the wider community, they implement these solutions.

The solution:

In Malawi, our teenage champions have turned their listening group into radio broadcasts. This acts as a catalyst for addressing sexual education, rights, and reproductive health.

Each episode tackles crucial topics like STIs, HIV/AIDS, cervical cancer, maternal health, and family planning methods. This format sparks meaningful discussions about these issues and empowers young women by educating them about their choices and the importance of utilizing available health services.

In Kenya we are setting up community health groups for adolescent girls, providing them with knowledge and skills to improve their sexual and reproductive health, via Afya’s trusted medical centres.

Here’s how it worked:

Empowered and informed: Teenagers actively seek knowledge and solutions to the sexual and reproductive health challenges they face and bust harmful myths around contraception through the radio program and discussions in the groups.

Assertive and confident: They advocate for their rights and well-being, making informed decisions about their bodies and relationships.

Goal-oriented: They strive to achieve their dreams and goals, understanding that good sexual and reproductive health is essential for their future.

Supportive and united: They work together, encouraging each other to discuss sensitive topics openly and take action to improve their lives.

Changemakers: They contribute to positive change in their communities by breaking harmful myths and promoting healthy attitudes towards sexual and reproductive health.

And why it worked:

Reduces Mortality Rates: Our community health groups can halve maternal mortality, reduce neonatal mortality by a third and can increase uptake of contraception by a quarter.

Community-based approach: Health education is most effective and empowering if it involves dialogue and problem-solving, rather than just message-giving.

Increases knowledge and awareness: About sexual and reproductive health issues, including contraception, STIs, HIV, cervical cancer, safe sex practices, and their rights.

Keeps girls in school: Access to contraception reduces the risk of unintended pregnancies and them missing out on their school education. Attending just one year of secondary education boosts a girl’s future earning potential up to 25%.

Improves health outcomes: Reducing unintended pregnancy, unsafe abortions, sexually transmitted infections (STIs and HIV), and early/forced marriage.

Tune in and listen

Listen to the theme tune of ‘Atsikana Ovaya’ (‘Cool girls’ in Chichewa) here:

REAL LIFE STORIES

Innocent’s story

“I was really worried, and very scared to tell my parents. I was scared my family wouldn't accept me.”

Sexual and reproductive health FAQs

Knowledge empowers change. Find answers to your questions about sexual and reproductive health and discover how your understanding can make a difference.

  • Four women every second become pregnant without choosing to start a family. The UNFPA published a report in 2022, ‘Seeing the Unseen’, which shows that 331,000 unintended pregnancies happen every day. Half of pregnancies are unintended.

    The ability for women to decide whether to have children, how many, and with whom is considered fundamental to girls and women’s reproductive rights.

    What’s more, it effects lives and, in turn, whole societies, hampering progress in health, education and gender equality. It increases poverty and lack of opportunity.

    3 in 5 unintended pregnancies end in abortion. It is estimated that 45% of all abortions are unsafe, either because it is illegal, restricted or expensive. This increases the risk of using other methods to carry out an abortion. The UNFPA says 7 million women each year are hospitalised by unsafe abortions. It is a leading cause of maternal death.

  • These women want autonomy. We want to support them. To enable them to have healthy relationships with their parents and boyfriends. To have the power to make their own decisions and know their rights.

    Societal expectations, harmful myths around contraception and difficulty reaching vital health services all form barriers. These affect their ability to prevent or delay pregnancy, impacting their capability to have rich, fulfilling lives.

  • Many believe contraception is only available to married couples, can make you infertile or have unintended side effects. This misinformation about long-term effects leads to a reluctance in their use. Our programmes and initiatives debunk these myths and make people aware of their access.

  • Community health groups, set up by Women and Children First, bring people together to talk about issues and work out problems around them. That can include debunking myths, reducing the stigma around the use of contraception and encouraging peers to support each other – for instance, seeking to get contraception does not mean that someone is ‘promiscuous’.

    In our project in Malga, Ethiopia, our groups led to a fall in unplanned pregnancies from 31% to 12%. One couple, Tesfaye and Zinu said, “Before the community health groups we didn’t speak about family planning. If women didn’t have a baby after a year the husband would often look for another wife.

    “We have realised that families who have lots of children in a short space of time often struggle to provide food, education and opportunities to all their children.” They are now advising other families about these issues. Tesfaye tells her friends about the family planning services that are available at their local health facility.

    “We are giving advice to our neighbours. We make sure they know a child will be stronger and better educated if the parents have fewer children close together.”

    Across our projects, we have seen that community health groups can increase the uptake of contraception by a quarter – 25%.