A Safe Place for Young Mothers

Our young mothers group learning to weave traditional grass baskets, and plastic totes.

This year, Margaret & Emma organization has registered a new women’s group in an effort to support young, vulnerable mothers. During the long Covid-19 lockdown, schools were closed for several months, and many young girls fell victim to difficult circumstances. Some married young, often forced by family into unfavorable situations, and others struggled with teen pregnancy alone.  We were approached by a young woman who asked if we had any groups specific to this situation, which we did not. But we told her that if she could assemble a group of women who wanted to participate, then we would absolutely support them, and help them to register with the local government.** She quickly gathered a group of young mothers, and our work with them began.

There are 9 million adolescents in Uganda, making up almost one quarter of the total population. Life is harsh for many. Poverty, HIV and AIDS, early marriage, teenage pregnancy, gender-based violence and low participation in secondary education make it difficult for young people to fulfil their potential.

According to UNICEF Uganda, adolescent girls face multiple vulnerabilities. Adolescent girls are severely and unevenly at risk of HIV infection two thirds of all new HIV infections are contracted by adolescent girls. Many girls also drop out of school as a result of unwanted teenage pregnancy and early marriage. According to the Ministry of Health, 25 per cent of Ugandan teenagers become pregnant by the age of 19. Close to half are married before their 18th birthday and continue having babies into their mid-40s.

As we journey towards women empowerment and poverty eradication, we believe that including these teenage mothers in our organizational activities and projects will make a difference! The group meets at our headquarters to learn basket weaving skills, and we hope that they will be our first tailoring group. We hope to help these young women foster new skills, and help them with steady employment.

-Natukunda Fortunate, Executive Director & Co-Founder

**When a group registered as an independent co-operative, they are on the local registry. This makes them eligiable for grovernment programs, and helps connect them to Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) who support women's groups.