By Seline Nyangere
Nairobi, Kenya: FAWEK under their program dubbed Imarisha Msichana has taken the initiative to carry out a sensitization clinic to equip men and young boys in society on ways in which cases of teen pregnancies can be reduced or come to an end.
For FAWE Kenya, making the men and young boys understand their role in reducing teen pregnancies in their counties is important for their mission of supporting quality education for girls and women for sustainable development.
According to research done by The Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC), Nairobi, Kiambu, and Kajiado are among the top counties with high rates of teen pregnancies, fortunately, Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as Forum for African Women Educationalists Kenya (FAWEK) have been in the forefront to ensure zero cases of teen pregnancies.
FAWEK county Coordinator Nelly Naserian revealed that, in their I Care About Her campaign, the purpose is to retain young girls and boys in school so they to transition to higher education and they do this through training and sensitization and they have seen it work.
“In our Second phase of the, I Care About Her campaign, we involved the same participants from Narok, Kiambu, and Kajiado and trained them to be gender champions advocating for the rights of girls and boys, and through our follow we have seen a number of teen moms who were out of school go back we have witnessed an increase of enrolment of girls to school, and reduction of teen pregnancies”, said Naserian.
Naserian added that their step to engage the men is because of their status in society and they can be a big pillar to shun cases of early marriages and teen pregnancies in their jurisdiction.
“Since men are decision-makers in our communities, we need to involve them in decision making, having them being on the forefront championing for the rights of children and child protection together we can fight these violations”, added Naserian.
According to Narok Chief Reson Danvies, constant sensitization from the NGOs has led to the reduction of teen pregnancies in counties.
“In our areas of jurisdiction, the issues that have been reported to us are very many and they came in large numbers, a few years ago but due to a lot of sensitization, and a lot of advocacies from NGOs like FAWE we have been able to reduce the number of teen pregnancies in our area, we have been able to identify early marriages”, said Danvies.
Simon Muchiri of Bodaboda Safety Association lamented the men who view young girls as safe people who can engage in sexual acts with a possibility of not contracting Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs).
“Most people have been seeing these young girls and they feel these girls are safe from STDs, we tell them that even the young girls are infected, if you run to them, you will personally bring diseases to your family”, said Muchiri.
During the sensitization clinic, a number of issues were identified as the causes of teen pregnancies and early marriages and these included young people not being educated about sex, their Curiosity, Peer pressure, pressure from Family, cultural pressure, family Sexual harassment, Idleness, Material things and much freedom therefore, parents and guardians have been encouraged to address them in order for Kenya to have zero cases of teen pregnancies and early marriages.
