Kayula Launches a Project to Address Teenage Pregnancy

Kayula Chisanga, often known as Misty, a 2022 Dartmouth AEI Alumni, has created a scheme to return 150 adolescent moms to school in January 2023.

The project, called “TURNING PAGES: ADVANCING GIRLS’ EDUCATION AND LEADERSHIP,” aims to solve the teenage pregnancy and motherhood crisis among Zambian young girls. Teenage pregnancy, which is one of the primary causes of school dropouts among girls aged 13 to 19 in Zambia’s rural and low-income areas, has become a national concern, with figures showing that 29% of females aged 15 to 19 are impacted.

The initiative will identify 150 adolescent dropout moms throughout three Copperbelt districts, namely Ndola, Kitwe, and Mpongwe, and equip and empower them with self-sustaining skills that will allow them to maintain themselves and their kids while also improving their livelihoods. Furthermore, this initiative will encourage these young moms to return to school and will assist schools in developing a comprehensive, efficient, and confidential abuse detection and reporting system that will help to avoid teenage pregnancies and better support teenage mothers.

The Turning Pages project is being implemented with funding support from the US Embassy’s Public Affairs Section. Misty, the entire Dartmouth AEI Alumni and our leaders from the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding are proud of your work, and wish you success on the full implementation of this project. Keep impacting your community, country and continent! Keep flowing…