Rukwa Teen Mothers Livelihood Program
Teen Pregnancies Facts
Teenage pregnancy, or teenage childbearing, is when a girl aged 15-19 is pregnant with her first child or gives birth. When a girl becomes pregnant, her life can change radically. Her education ends and her job prospects diminish.
Teenage pregnancy, therefore, results in a cohort of young girls with little education and limited economic opportunities who cannot contribute to the development of the country. It harms not only individual girls and women, but also their families, communities and countries.
Tanzania has the 17th highest adolescent fertility rate in Africa. The adolescent fertility rate has increased from 116 to 132 between the 2010 and 2015/16 -Demographic Health Surveys (TDHS).
Teenage pregnancy has also increased by 4 per cent in Tanzania since 2010; by 2016 one in four adolescents aged 15-19 had begun childbearing
Teenagers in rural areas are considerably more likely to have begun childbearing than their urban counterparts: 32 per cent of rural teenagers have had a live birth or are pregnant, compared with 19 per cent of urban teenagers.(TDHS, 2015)
There are some drivers of Teenage pregnancy in Tanzania, the following are selected drivers in the Rukwa region
Lack of Education, 52% of teen mothers don't attain secondary education compared to 10% of teenage pregnancies with secondary and higher education.
Limited access to adolescents and youth sexual reproductive health services; Teenagers who become pregnant in Tanzania have low levels of education and tend to live in areas where access to health services is relatively poor.
Livelihood Status
700,000 young people enter the Tanzanian labour market each year, but with youth unemployment rates at over 13%, many struggles to find fulfilling work that will provide them with a secure and resilient income.
For those who are the most marginalised – including girls, young mothers and those living with disabilities – the barriers to earning a decent living are much greater. Often facing stigma from their families and local community, these groups struggle to have their needs and rights recognised and realised.
In the Rukwa region, 32% of Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW) who become mothers don't have the vocational skills to start making a livelihood. Since most drops fromschool, they find themselves in a difficult environment to make a better and decent living.
