…Need for social registry, sanitary pad banks, legal framework

Rebecca Ejifoma

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) have significantly supported over 51,000 girls in Uganda by providing education and skills to prevent early marriage and teenage pregnancy.

This impact was recorded in 2024 with over 18,000 girls enrolled in secondary education, and more than 33,000 in 19 districts received livelihood skills and training.

UNICEF’s Director of Child Protection and Migration, Sheema SenGupta, highlighted this progress during a side event at the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69) on March 13 this year.

She listed three key strategies to prevent child marriages, delay marriage age, and reduce teenage pregnancies. “We provide cash or in-kind transfers to facilitate girls’ continued secondary education.

“Combining this support with services like educational resources, healthcare, livelihood, and skills training also improves girls’ overall wellbeing — health safety and sense of agency,” she added.

SenGupta continued: “Investing in livelihood and skills training keeps girls in secondary school, leading to empowerment through financial literacy and vocational training for a safe transition from secondary school to employment.”

She also asserted that transforming harmful societal norms, which undervalue girls compared to boys, leads to lasting change.

The UNICEF director emphasised the need for gender transformative approaches that engage families, communities, and institutions to help shift these norms.

SenGupta praised Uganda’s efforts to end child marriage. “The government is doing a very good job, particularly because they have included it in their national development plan. Keep going at it with the communities, and the faith-based leaders.”

Chief, Programme Liaison Branch UNFPA, Dr. Willibald Zeck, expressed pride in UNFPA and UNICEF’s support for Uganda’s achievements in the joint programme on ending child marriage.

He emphasised the need for increased efforts in tackling this issue in the future.

Zeck congratulated the Ugandan government on its national strategy and highlighted several key areas for focus. “Collaboration with religious and cultural leaders, engaging boys in the efforts, implementing multimedia campaigns, and addressing finances and funding for ending child marriage.”

He mentioned that they had begun working on solutions with the Ugandan government, including partnerships with the private sector and scaling up innovations such as mobile apps, domestic finances for universal coverage, government youth programmes, and the concept of “No Wealth without Health.”

Expressing pride in the programme developed with UNICEF, Zeck called for the integration of sexual and reproductive health education and community-based interventions.

He said that child marriage and teenage pregnancies are unacceptable, urging efforts to reduce their occurrence.

Speaking to THISDAY, a member of Parliament in Uganda, Flavia Rwabuhoro Kabahenda, hinted at the most talked about driver of child marriage —poverty.

She cautioned: “But we need to qualify what we mean by poverty. Food and girls are the easiest to sacrifice whenever poverty hits families.

“Others have turned the girls into a source of wealth to fight poverty. Poverty is critically eating up on the girls’ future, welfare, and rights. That is why we end up having child marriage.”

Kabahenda frowned on the issue of parental negligence, blaming parents who have children but are not ready to parent them. Thus, she called for the country to address the problem of the family.

“The families must be grounded to ensure the protection of the boys and girls; put their feet down to protect these girls’ future, dignity and welfare,” she said.

However, she recommended the government of Uganda and other African nations develop a social registry for better data management and decision-making.

“We need a comprehensive system that tracks individuals from birth to death, enabling quick and decisive actions,” stressing the importance of a robust monitoring and evaluation system to accelerate progress.”

Kabahenda, who was among the panel of discussion, suggested establishing a sanitary pad bank for girls across schools, creating an institutional framework to facilitate the re-entry of teenage mothers into schools and ensuring protection for their children.

The Principal Probation and Welfare Officer, Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development in Uganda, Lydia Najjemba Wasula, identified poverty as the main driver of child marriage and teenage pregnancies.

She explained that girls are often viewed as sources of food, wealth, and economic gains, with some families believing they can become rich through their daughters.

Wasula encouraged parents to be more involved in their children’s lives, stating that they should “be present in their children’s lives, communicate with them for the betterment of the family, society, and nation.”

The panel discussion on the theme, “Attaining Gender Equality: Accelerating Efforts and Strengthening Partnerships to End Child Marriage and Teenage Pregnancies in Africa,” recognised several efforts by the Ugandan government to support teenage mothers and address related issues.

The efforts include facilitating the return of teenage mothers to schools, collaborating with religious and cultural institutions, engaging in regional cooperation and information sharing, providing cross-border support for girls, strengthening legal frameworks, and enacting and enforcing relevant laws.

The Uganda government has approved the 2020 Revised Guidelines for the Prevention and Management of Teenage Pregnancy in School Settings in Uganda, which outlines an approach for school re-entry for young mothers.

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