Pregnancy Prevention for 200+ Teenagers in Zambia

Monitoring and evaluation are critical for building a strong evidence base around pregnancy prevention and period poverty and for assessing the wide, diverse range of interventions being implemented to address them. At the global level, it is a tool for identifying and documenting successful programs and approaches and tracking progress toward common indicators across related projects. Monitoring and evaluation form the basis of strengthening understanding around the many multi-layered factors underlying period poverty, adolescent girls experience with menstrual health hygiene and the deliverance of menstrual health training and sustainable menstrual health products.

Recently, the African Education Program (AEP) had the opportunity to partner with Ivy Mong’are, a University of Pennsylvania Master of Public Administration candidate at the Fels Institute of Government for her final Capstone Project. We were extremely excited for Ms. Mon’gare to work with not only AEP’s Programs Director in Kafue, Zambia, but also our Monitoring & Evaluation Department to measure the success of our menstrual health program.

Ms. Mon’gare began her research in January 2021 and queried 238 participants in AEP's Reproductive Health Access Initiative (RHAI). For her Qualitative study, she also spoke to teachers, parents, and a small focus group of 6 female students. In her findings, 79% of program participants preferred reusable pads while only 16% preferred menstrual cups. This shows us that we have more work to do educating the participants on the use and benefits of menstrual cups.

When participants were asked how our program affects their households and the greater communities, 97% of all participants report that access to free menstrual products reduced the financial strain on their household. 67% of all participants report that members of their community are interested in learning about reproductive and menstrual health. 68% of AEP participants report that members of their community have changed their menstrual products after learning about other options through AEP.

In the findings, we also learned that 57% of participants reported that their reusable pads took too long to dry. All of the participants are provided with a pack of 5 pads, however, during the rainy season in Zambia, the pads cannot be hung outside to dry. We are excited to learn that parents were eager to talk about the program and share how the program has changed their children's lives.

Among several things, the report recommended that AEP invest in smaller menstrual cups. This is certainly something we are looking into as well as building upon our menstrual and reproductive health education.

To view Ms. Mong’are’s full report, visit: https://vimeo.com/703115714/722a7f07c6

Thank you for investing in girls lives at the African Education Program!

Links:

• African Education Program