HER POWER HER CHOICE

The project is designed to increase information and knowledge on SRHR for adolescent girls and single young women.

 The Rwanda Demographic Health Survey 2019-2020 indicates that sexually active unmarried women are less likely to use a method of contraception than currently married women. Only one in two sexually active unmarried women use a method of contraception, with 48% using a modern method. Six percent of sexually active unmarried women use female condoms, while 4% use pills. The limited use of contraceptives by unmarried women including teen mothers, arises from the lack of information SRHR and much more the stigma about the community perceptions that sexual relationships are a preservation for married couples, in some cases, even health workers may not provide friendly services to teen mothers or single young women due to their perceptions. The report also recognizes the issue of adolescent fertility as important on both health and social grounds. Teenage mothers are more likely to experience adverse pregnancy outcomes and are more constrained in their ability to pursue educational opportunities than young women who delay childbearing. The findings further reveal that the percent distribution of women aged 15-19 who have given birth or were pregnant with their first child at the time of the survey, according to background characteristics. Overall, 5% of women aged 15-19 have begun childbearing: 4% have had a live birth, and 1% were pregnant at the time of the interview. The proportion of teenagers who have begun childbearing rises rapidly with age, from less than 1% at age 15 to 15% at age 19. Teenagers with no education and those in the lowest wealth quintile tend to start childbearing earlier than other teenagers. Teenagers in Eastern provinces are more likely to start childbearing earlier than their counterparts. The negative effects of early pregnancy for a girl child are far-reaching including dropping out of school, stigma from the family and community leading to psych-social problems like trauma, poverty with early responsibilities for self and child support, and some being exposed to sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS.

 The Care Policy Brief update on Rwanda Gender-Based Violence Policy December 2019, discriminatory Detrimental social norms remain a pervasive issue and explicitly. Social norms limit the enforcement of the current GBV law and limit acceptance by communities or families of victims reporting or addressing the violence. and impact the types of biases service providers express in their work with those who experienced violence

Child sexual abuse increases the risk of unintended pregnancies. A WHO report dated 2020 estimates that 120 million girls aged under 20 years have experienced some form of forced sexual contact. This abuse is deeply rooted in gender inequality; it affects more girls than boys. Estimates suggest that in 2020, at least 1 in 8 of the world’s children had been sexually abused before reaching the age of 18, and 1 in 20 girls aged 15–19 years had experienced forced sex during their lifetime.

1) Organize a meeting with local leaders and other stakeholders including health workers, Police, NGOs working with women on SHRH, prosecutors, and youth center representatives to share project objectives and roles of different stakeholders

2) Conduct a baseline study on knowledge attitude knowledge and practice for adolescent girls and single young women the study will be established by an external consultant engaging Adolescent girls and young women, community members, health workers, police, local leaders, youth leaders, and processors. The baseline data collected will form the monitoring and evaluation desire for impact and the baseline will be shared in meeting of stakeholders.

3) Organize a meeting through Radio or TV engaging the Police, Ministry of Gender promotion, family and duty bearers, and other leaders related to SRHR service for awareness and advocacy.

4) To equip teenage  vulnerable girls and single young women with knowledge of SRHR through SMS and  interactive voice (IVR) using telephones

5) To establish a women's center and girls' center for access to information psychological support and legal orientation. The center will be established in the community in collaboration with local leaders and the community leader. women and girls in the community will have an acquis role in day management. The center will have a toll-free telephone for women to easily report and access information and IER will recruit one field staff to coordinate center activities and one counselor for psychological support, the center will also act as a safe space for women and girls  SRHR GBV cases as their linked service providers. To be functional the center will be equipped with materials such as a computer, furniture, a good bed and Matera and internet. The community women leaders will play the role of feeding those who spend more than 1 day in the center who are victims of SRHR.

6) Training and giving knowledge on SRHR ( during training of teen mothers video success story of young women and girls who have been empowered to speak out and make their choices on SRHR will be used to motivate and inspires others.

7) Community awareness of SRHR  by using Radio and  SMS and  interactive voice (IVR) using telephones

8) Monitoring and  Evaluation will be in  a quarterly field visit engaging adolescent girls and women in observing behavior  change support services

The end-year evaluation will be conducted by an external consultant to assess the project result in relation to its set goals and objectives. The consultation will review and engage IER staff adolescents girls and women and stakeholders. The report will be shared in the stakeholder's validation

Vulnerable teen mothers and young single women   ( aged 18-35) located in Nyagatare District, Eastern Province of Rwanda. Young girls and women currently lack knowledge and information on SRHR. They are also stigmatized due to social norms where talking about sexual relationships is considered taboo, also Young women who are unmarried also lack access to contraception from health centers stuff due to their calculated beliefs that mal sexual relations or some best on their religious faith. some teen mothers are dismayed by families and community when they get pregnant and some have to dropouts a school.  

Inclusive Empowerment Rwanda (IER) a local NGO  IER legal representative and project coordinator both have experience in project management and nonrioting and are conversant with the human rights best approach.  

IER also has a part-time program technical gender advisor with experience designing monitoring and Evaluation of gender and SRHR projects and engagement of different stakeholders including the Government, civil society organizations, and donor community. 

IER also has a partnership with Nyagatare District so it will be easy for collaboration with leaders and community entry.

IER also has an IT technician so it is easy to work in the technology area.

IER also has a financial procedures manual for to guide the use and management of the organization's funds.

IER has identified 50 teenagers for support on SRHR awareness raising and education support in collaboration with Nyagatare District leaders. the project aims to scale the number to 300 teenagers and young single women with the availability of funds.

IVR is a new approach to using technology for campaigning on SRHR in Rwanda. It is innovative because it reaches many people including those in rural areas who would otherwise be excluded from access to information. The approach also gives an opportunity for feedback or clarification from the receiver of information hence interactive and prospectors.

Engaging duty bearers in advancing on the radio will give teen mothers, young mothers, and the community to present their opinions and complaints in relation to SRHR service delivery and demand improvement in the public sphere.

Improve health SRHR service to teen mothers, adolescents, and young single women. 

Teenagers and young women are empowered and able to make choices in sexual relationships.

reduced stigma on pregnancy and childbearing for teen mothers from the community and parents.

This project theory change :

To reduce the pregnancy of adolescents, teen mothers, and young single women

To increase the information and knowledge on SRHR 

To reduce the unmet need for family planning for teenagers and young mothers without stigma.

To improve the quality of life for teen girls and young women without facing stigma from parents and community or dropping out of school due to the pregnancy

To reduce the risk of sexually transmitted diseases for teen mothers and single young women through the increase of knowledge and information on SRHR

IER has 5 workers work full time

3 workers for full-time staff

1 worker works part time

IER local NGO created in 2022 for this year until now IER is still working

IER is not a company or  an enterprise 

IER is a local Non-governmental organization located in Rwanda

Funds will be mobilized through different donors. 

Fundraised money through grants will be used for training, advocacy, and staff salaries

For sustainability purposes, different stakeholders will contribute to success for example local leaders and the community will jointly provide the women's infrastructure and women's center health centers on the other side they will give family planning to single young mothers within their mandate.