Giving Teen Mothers A Second Chance
In Kenya, most girls drop out of school due to teen pregnancies.
Statistics show that 98% of these girls do not resume class.
It’s for this reason that a social entrepreneur, Ivy Aki, co-founder and CEO of Gingko Africa thought of giving the girls a second chance through entrepreneural empowerment.
In an exclusive interview, the chief executive officer shared with us her vision to make sure that the girls get another chance and more so to make sure that they are able to face life in spite of all the challenges that they face.
“”We train and capacity-build these teen mothers and we also extend sexual and reproductive health education to them. At the moment over 80 girls have gone through the Entrepreneurial Empowerment Program and they are able to make notebooks for sale. Through these initiatives, the girls can be able to sustain themselves and fend for their young ones and also at the same time be able to go back to school,” the CEO noted.
READ ALSO: FAWE Unveils Programme to Curb Teen Pregnancy in Kenya
The youthful CEO Madam Ivy, called for sustainable ways of girl child empowerment.
“Instead of giving the girls the fish, we teach them how to fish. This is a more sustainable approach other than giving the girls handouts. If you give the girl that sanitary pad today, what about tomorrow? It’s better to equip the young ones with the entrepreneurial skills,” she noted
Other than the girl child, Madam Ivy has been on the frontline offering mentorship programs to the boy child as well using a guidebook published by Gingko Africa, Blossom Through Teenage-hood book.
Kenya has made some strides in reducing teen pregnancies in the country, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) report has shown. According to the latest survey, data on teenage pregnancies for adolescents between 10 to 19 years has decreased drastically since 2018.
In 2018, healthcare facilities in the country recorded a total of 427,297 pregnant teenagers.
In 2021, the number decreased to 317,583 and further decreased to 260,442 teenagers in 2022.
Adolescents between the ages of 10 to 14 years that presented with pregnancy at first ANC visits reduced from 23,290 in 2021 to 15,043 in 2022.
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