CAJEFED adopted and implemented a cost-effective assistance strategy in response to the need for adolescent mothers and their infants to have access to education and health care services. Dr Bernadette Dramou, WHO National Professional Officer for Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child & Adolescent Health/Nutrition, stated, “All women have the right to dignified, respectful health care throughout pregnancy and childbirth, free of violence and prejudice.” Organizations are devoted and passionate about putting these findings into practice, putting these recommendations for respectful care into effect so that every woman in Guinea has a better delivery experience. Some health facilities are already adopting initiatives that have a substantial impact on women’s health.
According to different organizations’ assessments, the school attendance percentage of adolescent moms was 40% when CAJEFED began the intervention. The percentage had increased to 95% in the 2015 assessment. CAJEFED also provided a training package that includes tutoring, life skills workshops, and literacy classes to help young mothers prepare for their quarterly tests. Young mothers scored extremely well on exams as a result of these treatments, which is in line with the CAJEFED program’s goals. While CAJEFED cared for their infants at the center, adolescent mothers were trained in vocational training institutes off-site.
Parents and community members met frequently with CAJEFED management to discuss the well-being of newborns and adolescent mothers at the center, as well as how they could assist managers in overcoming some of the challenges they faced. Periodic beneficiary meetings were also held, during which CAJEFED and adolescent moms explored methods to address the most pressing issues confronting young mothers.
CAJEFED has met its objectives with minimal resources over the last four years. Volunteer support, the low-cost nature of the programme, and partnerships with public services and civil society organisations were all enabling elements in the program’s success. Influential youth and women’s rights organisations rallied around the cause of pregnant adolescent girls2 and worked with the programme to provide life skills training and advocate for girls’ and women’s rights. CAJEFED’s ability to leverage finances was boosted by victims of sexual and physical abuse who were referred to the organisation for emergency assistance. CAJEFED has identified a number of new partners interested in sponsoring the center as a result of this and other outreach activities.
Project management, legal guidance, service delivery at the current centre, the construction of other centers in other places, and improving coordination among providers of education, health care, and social services are all areas where assistance is recommended. CAJEFED is drafting an implementation plan for the next phase of the center’s activity, outlining the proposed roles and duties of partners, expected results, deadlines for the plan’s roll-out, and monitoring strategy, in order to ensure that these offers of assistance are realized.
