Knowledge Generation

In Kenya, Bungoma County has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates and increasing rates of gender based violence among rural young girls, ages 15-24. These rural adolescents are uniquely vulnerable due to poverty, displacement and conflict. Extreme gaps exist in the local IPV awareness levels and availability of quality IPV prevention and response services. While the national government has committed to establishing comprehensive SGBV care centres, this has yet be realised in Bungoma.

Violence against women (VAW) violates women's rights to live in freedom and safety, and negatively affects their health and wellbeing. VAW is understudied in public transport, where it affects women's right to move -- to commute, look for jobs, access healthcare and education -- and thus their occupational choices and socioeconomic outcomes. Yet we know relatively little about the nature and extent of VAW in public transport, or what kinds of interventions could work to tackle it.

Deaf women are prone to sexual exploitation because they are without basic education, without a “language" the world can understand them, and without knowledge of the world around them. They have no resources they could use to understand their own sexuality, to understand their rights against sexual exploitation, to protect themselves against sexual and reproductive health problems, and even to report sexual exploitation incidents to authorities.

Le problème majeur de la femme paysanne d'Uvira en RDC reste le manque d'informations sur la santé sexuelle et reproductive et les droits qui s'y rattachent. En effet, dans les villages de Luberizi, Kamanyola et Uvira centre ciblés par notre projet, plusieurs femmes et filles recourent à la prostitution pour la survie de leurs familles. D'où, un taux élevé des filles-mères, des grossesses indésirées, de mortalité due aux avortements provoqués, les IST ou MST, une pauvreté économique familiale…

In the country there is no comprehensive bet on sexual and reproductive education, the few efforts are focused on urban areas, forgetting the rural areas of the country, where the situation of women and girls are precarious, in the health services there is no information or the medical supplies necessary to guarantee sexual and reproductive health, which is why they constitute a risk factor for the fulfillment of other fundamental rights of girls, women and adolescents.

Young women in Botswana face high rates of all forms of intimate partner violence, placing them at risk of injury, death, and HIV. Marginalized young women, not in education or employment, living in absolute poverty in areas with low access to government services, are particularly at risk through involvement in transactional sex and entrenched patriarchal attitudes. They have limited access to government programs to improve livelihoods or to sources of help when they experience violence.

Nicaragua has the highest adolescent pregnancy rate in Latin America, driven by inadequate information on sexual reproductive health and rights (SRHR), poor self-awareness and a sexist culture. Adolescent girls face a high risk of pregnancy with social and economic consequences. Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and barriers accessing SRHR information/services make it difficult to exercise control over their sexuality, avoid GBV, unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections.

Gender inequality in Uganda is a key reason why 20% of girls/women age 15-49 have experienced SGBV, 10% of girls are married before age 15, and 40% married before age 18. The WB cites “4 main risk factors" for SGBV: “Social norms, exposure to violence in childhood, alcohol use, and poverty"; all serious issues in Uganda. SGBV prevention and care services are available in Uganda, but coverage is limited, not well integrated, and unsustainable due to lack of community ownership and leadership.

La loi camerounaise est homophobe. Les LGBT subissent dans les hôpitaux et ailleurs, des stigmatisations et discriminations qui échouent par l'augmentation du taux de prévalence du VIH chez les LGBT. des données de notre dernière enquête sur les facteurs de vulnérabilité au VIH , les défis rencontrés par les jeunes LGBT des zones rurales de l'ouest sont : l'accès à la bonne information, accès aux matériels de prévention, accès aux services VIH et à la santé sexuelle et reproductive (SRHR).

Vietnam's 53 ethnic minority (EM) groups live in rural areas with limited access to healthcare and education. EM people make up 15% of the population but account for 70% of the extreme poor. Less than 8% of EM girls complete high school. Child marriage rates among EM girls average 27%, with rates over 50% in some groups. EM girls are nearly 4 times likely to give birth compared to Kinh majority. Challenges of poverty, school dropout, adolescent marriage and pregnancy are interrelated and severe.