Helping girls stay in school

At least 6,000 young women had to drop out of school in 2020 because they were pregnant. Others could no longer attend school because their parents had married them off early. The reasons are not only cultural, but also due to widespread poverty as many parents cannot afford to send their daughters to school for long and are reliant on a dowry. Or young women get involved with older men in the hope that they will support their families, and then fall pregnant. But early pregnancies are a health risk, and a lack of higher education reinforces gender inequality and increases poverty. SolidarMed therefore wants to improve the economic situation of parents and their daughters in a targeted way.

To this end, SolidarMed is trialling an innovative financing system in a pilot project running until 2023. In the village of Gombe, selected community health workers are receiving support to set up a microenterprise, for example in beekeeping, grocery trading or dressmaking. The revenues generated are split three ways: one part goes as a wage to community health workers whose pay was previously very modest; the second part goes into a fund to further develop the business; and the third goes to certain vulnerable local families. These are families with a low social status and modest financial means who have at least one teenaged daughter. The financial support is intended to enable the girls to stay in school for longer and to get married later. In addition, parents and young people take part in panels to discuss gender equality. If this approach proves effective, it is to be rolled out in other communities and will therefore improve the rights and health of many young women.