A girls' empowerment programme to assist teenagers who drop out of school due to pregnancy has been launched in Nyeri County.
The programme dubbed 'pick me up' will run a countrywide campaign operating under the banner 'Pick me up: Allow girls to learn' with the objective of identifying girls who are dealing with early pregnancy-related issues in order to help them complete their studies and acquire financial freedom.
The founder of the programme, Waithera Chege, told The Standard that the initiative was born out of the realisation that the many girls who get pregnant at an early age usually get disillusioned while majority lack proper channels within which they can access education, counselling and sources of income, adding that majority come from poor backgrounds.
"One way of ensuring the girls earn money will be ensuring they get mobile handsets to allow them conduct online businesses. We shall educate them on the numerous income-generating opportunities available online and afterwards partner with Safaricom to facilitate the girls into owning mobile handsets," said Waithera.
"We have identified 100 girls in Nyeri alone, most of whom got pregnant below the age of 17, with the oldest having had children at the age of 19," she said, adding that the group will partner with the Government though the Education and Health ministries to empower the girls.
Nyeri Public Health Officer Mugenyu said the county government will also assist.
