40% of Ugandan females marry before they reach the age of 18. One in every four adolescent girls over the age of 15 has given birth or is expecting a child. This has a disastrous effect on their future, since it drives children to drop out of school, traps them in a cycle of poverty, and puts young women and their kids in danger.
YCSN Uganda collaborates with local communities to transform widespread ideas, behaviors, and traditions that force, extort, sell, or otherwise compel girls to marry. In Uganda, our novel holistic program, Girls Empower, has resulted in significant shifts in attitudes and behaviors around child marriage. It also provides services to former street children, as well as those who have been abandoned or abused in various ways.
We work with communities to change people’s minds against child marriage. We help teenagers understand their rights and the laws that protect them, as well as obtain information on sexual and reproductive health.