PAYNESVILLE, Montserrado – To combat a high rate of teen pregnancy and girls dropping out of school, a gender equality group has launched an empowerment project in the Thinkers Village community.
The Alliance for Women Advancement in Liberia’s Girls Empowerment Program will provide skills training in soap making, baking, and pastry to 90 adolescent girls and teenage mothers between 9-17 years of age.
The project is funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.
According to the 2013 Liberia Demographic Health Survey, nine out of every ten Liberian women have had sexual intercourse by age twenty, while at least 31 percent of all 15-19 years old girls have been pregnant or had a child.
Officially launching the program on Friday, a board member of ALWA, Ophelia Kennedy, called on adolescent girls and young women to build their self-esteem.
“The skills you will learn here will benefit your family and friends if you put your mind to it and learn it well,†she told the beneficiaries.
ALWA’s Project Officer Anita Monger said the three-month-long program would provide a safe and friendly space for learning, teaching, discussing, and engaging in activities that would advance the rights of women and girls.
She said the project would help beneficiaries to obtain life skills and help them make decisions that will improve their lives.
Monger said the empowerment program would also address the high rate of teenage pregnancy, one of the key issues affecting girls and young women, and help beneficiaries make wise decisions to stay in school.
“The program will help to protect young girls from getting pregnant and dropping out of school and engaging in other behaviors that will negatively affect their lives in the future,†she added.
During the program, she said the girls would be provided facts and information about sexual health, pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections and diseases including HIV.
Meanwhile, ALWA’s Executive Director Mercy Togba-Borzie has assured the organization’s continuous commitment to protecting and empowering women and girls.
Teenage mothers who successfully end the training cycle will be provided with micro-grants to practice their newly acquired skills and sustain their families.
Togba-Borzie said the organization has remained engaged with girls and young women to help them make better decisions that will help them in the future.
She said adolescent girls in Liberia face a range of risks and vulnerability.
“They lack the social, health, and economic assets to mitigate risks, which compromise their healthy development into adulthood,†she added.
Featured photo by Gbatemah Senah