Pregnancy Prevention for 200+ Teenagers in Zambia

That is what the team at our locally-led Learning & Leadership Center in Kafue, Zambia -- the Amos Youth Centre -- aims to find out thanks to a grant award from USAID Youth Excel.

With support from the USAID Office for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GenDev), Youth Excel launched a grant competition to fund local youth-led and youth-serving organizations to conduct implementation research activities for strengthening menstrual health and hygiene management for girl’s education in Malawi and Zambia.

Out of 56 applications, our Amos Youth Centre was 1 of 5 winners representing Zambia and Malawi to receive between USD $40,000 - $50,000 for implementation research on their current school-based menstrual health and hygiene management activities in 8 months. Youth Excel will support the grantees to integrate gender equality and social inclusion, protection, research-to-change, and knowledge mobilization approaches in order to strengthen their solutions and influence decision-makers. Grant competition activities began with a Youth Excel technical training in September 2022, followed by grantee-led implementation research, and culminating with dissemination of learnings and recommendations in April 2023.

We can't wait to share these findings with you because, as a supporter, you made this work happen. Our work to end period poverty and the high rate of local pregnancies is an intricate part of our Reproductive Health Access Initiative (RHAI) in Zambia. Receiving menstrual health and hygiene resources and training has proven to lower pregnancy rates and we will continue to engage our girls and young women along with their mothers and guardians in this very important work!

With gratitude,

The African Education Program

Links:

• Amos Youth Centre
• African Education Program