Multisectoral approaches to rites and initiations for the exercise of sexual and reproductive health rights of adolescent girls

 

This project, known as the "Multisectoral and Transformative Approaches to Rites and Initiations for Maternal, Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights of Adolescent Girls", is an innovative response to promote gender equality and protect young girls from early pregnancy in Togo. It results from the scaling up by the Association Togolaise pour le Bien Être Familial (ATBEF, Togolese Association for Family Well-Being) and its partners in the action research project called the "Multisectoral Approaches to Preventing Early Pregnancy in Togo's Colleges." Between 2018 and 2021, that project targeted 15 general education colleges and contributed to a 60% decrease in cases of teenage pregnancy in these colleges.

This project, which will be scaled up in 50 communes in the Maritime, Plateaux, Kara and Savanes regions of Togo during the 2021–2024 period, aims to reduce the prevalence of teenage pregnancy by at least 50%. The multisectoral approach, which has served to highlight the significant reduction in the prevalence of pregnancies in and out of school through synergy of action among the education, health, justice, and local chiefdom sectors, will also be used in this project. The appropriate committees have been set up and trained for the project.

The project’s main activities focus on strengthening parental responsibility through education; access by young people to information and integrated sexual and reproductive health services; denunciation and appropriate treatment of cases of gender-based violence, in particular sexual violence against adolescent girls; as well as understanding and transforming the organization and conduct of rites and initiations.