Background

Cases of young motherhood are on the increase in Uganda. As of 2016, the national statistics indicated that one in four Ugandan girls got pregnant by age 18. COVID-19 and the GOU containment measures led to a surge in cases of young mothers. UNFPA reports that the number of adolescent girls who got pregnant between 2020-2021 skyrocketed especially in Busoga and Central regions.

Many of these cases are attributed to sexual abuse and sexual exploitation, inadequate access to information on sexual and reproductive health services which impacts sexual decision making. The harsh economic realities are also partly responsible for unsafe sexual practices among others.

Yet, the socio-cultural and religious beliefs, values, and practices continue to sustain a narrative of young mothers as immoral and sinful. Young mothers are judged without due consideration of the broader factors embedded within their communities.

The same judgemental values indirectly underpin the legal and institutional frameworks that determine equity and equality in all aspects of life including education, health, and justice system.

Young mothers are invisibilized and condemned to the margins of society without giving them any voice. We have neither bothered to understand their experiences nor given them an opportunity to speak for themselves. This project attempts to contribute to enhancing the voice of young mothers in Iganga (Busoga) and Kawempe (Kampala). We hope that this project will produce the data that will be useful in terms of informing legal and policy reforms as well as programming and practice at national sub-national, and grassroots levels