THE GIRL’S RIGHT TO LEARN INITIATIVE

THE GIRL’S RIGHT TO LEARN INITIATIVE
BACKGROUND
West Nile records a high number of teenage mothers with nearly one in every three households recording a teen that has got pregnant or has had a child (APPCAN report 2013), this was further noted during a visit to Arua Regional referral Hospital maternity ward with over 45% of the deliveries being teenager who were below 18 years and mostly school drop outs due to pregnancy.
Teenage mothers and their families continue to face financial stress as they struggle to cater for the health care of the mother and baby and also find themselves at more risk in becoming victims in the country’s high infant and maternal mortality. This makes teenage pregnancy enormously expensive and it is a phenomenon which has caught many families within the vicious circle of poverty.
The teenage pregnancies is associated with many social issues, including
 Early forced marriage,
 lower educational levels,
 higher rates of poverty,
 inadequate basic education in the fundamentals of sexual and reproductive health, limited access to affordable contraceptive options and other poorer life outcomes in children of teenage mothers. This has caused social stigma in many communities increased HIV/Aids among these teenagers who get Pregnant
 increased nutritional deficiencies among the pregnant teenagers,
 high dropout rates in school,
 Poor academic performance in children of teenage mothers, many of them being more likely than average to fail to graduate from primary and secondary school.

This unbecoming trend of increased teenage pregnancies, high school dropout rate of girl children, increased HIV/Aids cases among the teenagers are caused by inadequate sex education by parents, relaxed awareness about the dangers of premarital sex, unprotected sex has caused very high teenage pregnancy and increased HIV/Aids prevalence rate in Arua District.
Is estimated that worldwide, 62 million girls — half of whom are adolescent — are not in school. And the disparity in gender in education remains quite real today worldwide, with 78 percent of girls dropping out of school, compared to 48 percent of boys.
It is from this background that West Nile Youth Empowerment Centre is undertaking an Initiative to remove barriers to girls’ education. Through the “GIRLS-RIGHT TO LEARN INITIATIVE”

The overall goal of the initiative is to increase access to universal basic education of reasonable quality based on gender sensitivity which will contribute to poverty reduction, retention and completion rates among teenagers in Arua West Nile by 2023
OBJECTIVES
 To increase primary school enrollment, attendance and completion rates for girls in Arua city
 Encourage girls who have left because of pregnancy or marriage to return to school.
 To focus on engaging the community to offer ideas to eliminate barriers to school attendance for area children and mobilize community effort to support girls education.
 Technical skills necessary to better equip parents to support their children’s educational needs.
 Create “Mother Monitors” at primary schools to monitor girls attendance.
 To create awareness among the Teenage in school and out of school for improved access, retention and performance of girl child in school in 5 rural sub counties targeting 1000 teenagers in Arua City and Arua District by 2023
 To advocate for HIV/AIDS health talk programs in schools through refresher trainings for teachers on HI/AIDS integration in children’s learning in schools and establishing talking compound on teenage pregnancies, substance abuse, and HIV/AIDS in 5 rural schools of Arua City and Arua District by 2023.
 To strengthen sustainable citizens’ platforms that facilitates debate on increased community awareness about teenage pregnancies and HIV/AIDS through love life campaign among the youth in Arua District by 2020

ACTIVITIES:
 Under take awareness campaign for teenagers both in school and out of school (Formation of teenage Peer learning clubs, Out of school teenage league for sex education, Radio sports, Radio talk shows, Peer debates on sex in schools, Establishment of talking compound on sex, and HIV/AIDS, Formation of children poem clubs, Sex education .
 Under take HIV/AIDS education in selected schools ( Health Talks/Educating young people about HIV and AIDS, Awareness on sex and drug use among the teenagers, Advocacy to include HIV/AIDS in morning Assembles in Schools and Orientation of senior women teachers on HIV/AIDS and Teenage management in schools)
 Conduct Teacher and Teenage training: Teenage and HIV/AIDS education requires detailed discussions of subjects such as sex, death, illness and drug use. Teachers are not likely to have experience dealing with these issues in class, and require specialized training so that they are comfortable discussing them without letting personal values conflict with the health needs of the students. Teacher training is fundamental to the successful delivery of sex and AIDS education in schools. In addition teenagers need specialized trainings on management of periods, good childhood and good parenting skills for those at pregnant.
 Media Campaigns: HIV/ AIDS education advertisements, films, or announcements( Love Life campaign using a variety of media to educate young people about HIV and AIDS, Teenage pregnancy .The love Life campaign will display posters, billboards and used TVs and music Dance and drama that are popular with young people, as an educational platforms will be used.

EXPECTED OUTCOMES.

 Participating Sub county counties with improved access, retention and performance of their teenage children in school.
 Knowledgeable teachers with skills to prevent sexual violence and reduced stigma among positively living school in schools.
 Active and informed citizenry engaging with duty bearers in realizing quality education for all children at household and community level.
 Community members change their attitudes in support of girls’ education.
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 Community members provide increased material and psychological support to their girl children attending school.
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 Decrease in traditional practices harmful to girls’ education such as elopement and early marriage.
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 Improvement in self-esteem and confidence in their abilities as community change agents.
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 Increased retention of girls in school as a result of increased knowledge of their right to education.
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 High retention rate of girls that take part in girls’ club activities.
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 Improved performance as a result of additional literacy skills acquired during reading sessions and performance of sketches and drama in public places
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 Boosting of self-esteem of club members due to exposure and inclusion in co-curricular activities. Out of School Girls
 Increased desire to attend school due to witnessing girls club activities and enthusiastic girls attending school.
 Return of young mothers and other out-of-school girls to school.