$6M pledged to fight teen pregnancy in Region 9

The recurring high percentages of adolescent pregnancies in Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) has captured the attention of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), which has introduced mechanisms to control the high numbers.
Partnering with the Women’s Across Differences (WAD), the Public Health Ministry and the Social Protection Ministry, an agreement was signed recently which will see the injection of $6.8 million into the initiative.
Findings in 2014 from the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) have demonstrated that the adolescent birth rate in Region Nine is 6.5 per cent, which is  almost twice the national average.
WAD will implement a three-prong approach which includes the prevention of adolescent pregnancy, the prevention of a second pregnancy in an adolescent child and livelihood skills for these young mothers. Training will a

lso be provided at the regional and sub-regional levels to prevent and address such circumstances.
Over the next 18 months, the two bodies will seek to realise some of the objectives that were set out which will be achieved through addressing adolescent pregnancy and providing life-skills support, livelihood skills guidance, referrals and provide access to quality of services.
WAD is a non-governmental organisation which enables women and girls to empower themselves through access to social and economic resources. The organisation has vast experiences working with adolescent mothers for over the past 10 years.
UNICEF has also prioritised cross-sectoral initiatives in the 2017-2021 Country Programme Document (CPD) to strengthen capacity at the regional and community levels to address challenges that are monumental. One of these is the issue adolescent pregnancy.
WAD has pledged to work with the organisation in all the sub-regions of Region Nine to implement the Comprehensive Empowerment Programme for the Prevention and Reduction of Adolescent Pregnancy in order to prevent and reduce pregnancy and eradicate the chance of another pregnancy among young girls.
It is envisaged that this project will complement the impact that already exists from previous projects implemented by UNICEF and other stakeholders.