About 70% of adolescents in Cameroon are sexually active at the age of 16. 14 in every 100 girls aged 15-24 have conceived a baby though only 4% of the pregnant adolescents (married or not) desired a pregnancy. (GFMER 2010). Generally, unintended pregnancies in Cameroon stand at 22.7% with only 37% of family planning demands satisfied (Countdown 2012).

There are a few actors on the field attempting to meet the family planning needs of girls and women and almost none cares about the many who still get pregnant and deliver as teenage mothers. These young mothers often than not, prematurely end their beautiful dreams of becoming lawyers, doctors, teacher, etc and resolve to hand-to-mouth activities just to survive self and baby. In the struggle, some of these teenage mothers get pregnant again. This exposes the mother and child to possible death. 1 in every 34 women dies in child birth nationally. Infant mortality has returned to 136/1000 live births as it were in 1990.

Problem

There is need for increased access to family planning service as the basis for a reduction in unplanned pregnancies and maternal mortality. There is also the need for a facility that can nurture the kids of teenage mothers during school hours in other to enable then reconnect to their academic dreams. Lastly, there is a need for career guidance and capital support to enable teenage mother who have dropped out of school to gain economic independence.

Solution

With our intervention, teenage mothers are no longer limited by the responsibility to take care of kids at home but now freely pursuit economic activities outside the home or return to school. Our free family planning services expose the young girls to informed contraception choices, thereby limiting the chances of further unplanned babies and eventually the risk of maternal death. Those that dropped out of school and lost their purpose for living are now energized by our guidance and capital support to become economically unstoppable. This project is the first of its kind in Cameroon and therefore has the power of replication.

Example

The Unstoppable Women Project restores the destinies of young girls, especially teenage mothers by providing them with a facility (Bouncing Babies Daycare) that nurtures their babies during school hours. Our caring staff provides childcare that promotes healthy infant and early child development. Our model also provides the clients with family planning education and access to modern contraceptives. Lastly, our project guides the girls that have dropped out of school into profitable economic activities which can sustain their lives and that of their babies. 17-year-old Ateh Uscallete, our pioneer beneficiary shared her testimony about our project ‘Before enlisting for the project, there was no hope of me returning to school. I had already missed one academic year and any other miss would have meant total discontinuation because the GCE syllabus may change next year. Thank to this daycare, my son is healthy while I prepare for our future. I have also learnt the various methods of modern contraception to keep myself in control until there is need for Noel’s follower’.

Marketplace

Our project is the pioneer in Cameroon. At the beginning, it was challenging to win the people's trust despite the pressing need for the services. Today, a similar project is being done in the neighboring quarter by another actor. This has relaxed the market as more people now believe it’s possible to have a 3 months baby healthy and safe in a daycare centre. The challenge we face with this competitor is that they seems to have a more stable funding than we do. Other silent competitors are grandmothers who opt to assist some of the teenage mothers with daycare services. What they can't offer are the family planning services. Thus, they prevent some potential client of our project from benefiting. We are also in competition with native believes and illiteracy. Some clients see modern family planning methods as a cause of sterility and transgression to their religious principles.