NGOs band together to fight early pregnancy in schools
Joint Medical Store is to join other Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in the Girl Parliament Project to fight early pregnancy in school going children.
The project is spear headed by Esla Uganda, and other charity organizations like Following Foundation and Kids Club Kampala.
In the meeting with Esla team , the communication director Joint medical Store Mariam Ahumuza said as JMS is celebrating 40 years in serving people, they have joined other organization to give back to the communities.
“The project will enable girls share ideas on issues affecting the girl-child especially those relating to education, sexual and reproductive health as well as adolescent pregnancy,” she said.
The project director Esla Uganda Davis Dddungu said “We are going to intensify the activities and mobilize the youth to make sure that they are involved in development,”
The Girl Parliament project is an innovative programme of empowering the girl child both in schools and the communities which the girls lives in. The project is intended to make school and community environment safe for the girl child to prosper intellectually and utilize her potential to the maximum without any hindrances and intimidation. Esla is the driving force behind the project.
Interventions
Anthony Seruwujjo, the coordinator of Kids Club Kampala , one of the non-governmental organizations working in slum areas , told Nile post that some of the reformed girls are however stigmatised because the public still refer to them as prostitutes. This discourages many girls who want to live that life to make the effort.
He said the project is “Trying to employ all possible ways to have them on board, such as using their peers who left the trade and are now engaging in productive work after being skilled.”
He revealed that over 100 teenagers including school dropouts in slum areas have been enrolled in the programmes to get skills mostly in knitting, weaving and so many others.
According to UNICEF approximately 35 percent of girls drop out of schools because of early marriages and 23 percent do so because of early pregnancy.
