Teenage girls account for one in five pregnancies in Kenya. Many of these teenage pregnancies are unintended. They occur because young people are denied access to knowledge about sexual and reproductive health. The same applies to good health care and contraceptives. The project is financed by KfW and implemented by the Kenyan government. As a cooperation partner, DSW takes on the task of introducing young people between the ages of 15 and 24 to health services and training opportunities.

Parents and teachers often do not provide young people with the necessary information to prevent early pregnancies. And young people often miss out on health care as well. In Kenya and many other African countries, the health system is based on health centres that combine different medical disciplines under one roof. Anyone with a medical concern of any kind goes there – also for contraceptive advice and supply. Only about one in eight of these health centres offers this service specifically for adolescents. This gap, which often leads to adolescents becoming parents at an early age and having to overthrow their plans for the future, is being closed by the programme. This gap, which often leads to young people becoming parents at an early age and impacts their plans for the future, is being closed by the programme.

In the three districts of Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu, we are working with the Kenyan Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Information, Communication, Innovation and Youth to make the health system more responsive to the needs of young people. The project also includes the Life Yangu website. This gives young people access to age-appropriate education, information on contraceptives, and contact details and directions to youth-friendly health centres. In training courses, they also learn important skills for their professional lives. Healthy young people who can make their own decisions about family planning offer enormous development potential for their countries.