Male Voices against Teenage Pregnancies (MATEP) in Kamuli, Uganda

Abstract

In Uganda, teenage pregnancy is very common especially in the Eastern districts e.g., Kamuli and Buyende, and is linked to violence, especially when the teen is a child, and the number of reports has increased in the first two years of the Covid-19 outbreak. There have been numerous efforts in Uganda, particularly in Kamuli, to curb teenage pregnancies, but none of them have been successful without involving the men and boys who perpetrate such violence. To solve this problem, a new strategy is required, and this project puts offenders and would-be perpetrators at the forefront of raising their voices against adolescent pregnancies in Kamuli district.

This strategy will focus on men and boys in order to create a network of champions against teen pregnancy at the individual, group, and community of practice levels. Capacity building of men and boys to be gatekeepers and prevent teenage pregnancies in their homes and communities will be one of the project's strategies, as will community mobilization and awareness through a community-based response aimed at addressing social and tradition norms that promote teenage pregnancies including toxic masculinities, gender inequalities, and the use of sexual and reproductive health and family planning services; campaigns and advocacy involving other stakeholders, such as women's organizations, to advocate for an ordinance with harsh penalties for men and boys who impregnate teen girls. Men and boys should be involved in the prevention of teenage pregnancies as part of the solution to the rising teen pregnancy rate.