Pathways Leadership for Progress humbly received funding from the Fanz Foundation in 2017 to conduct a study on the feasibility and acceptability of an intervention to reduce frequency of sexual behaviour among adolescent girls in 11 counties of Kenya. The intervention works through local microfinance institutions and community groups to provide training on income generation to mother/guardian and daughter pairs with some of the earned income going to support the girl in secondary school. Confidential HIV, STD, and pregnancy tests are given to all the girls each term. When the COVID pandemic hit Kenya, our study was disrupted because the girls had to stay out of school. This left them at risk for increased sexual behaviour. Because of this, we engaged the services of Dr Patrick Nyagah to conduct life skills and resilience training for all the girls and their mothers. Dr Nyagah, author of the book Transformative Thinking is a motivational speaker and expert on mindset and attitude change.
We are happy to share that preliminary analysis shows that, compared to controls, the intervention has been able to retain the girls in school longer and increase the family income from their mother’s businesses with the effect of improving the family living standards. There has been a reduction in teenage pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections, teenage marriages and a delay in the age of age of sexual debut with a resultant improvement in academic performance. Loan repayments currently stand at 68%.
