Girls’ journey within Kuwa Mjanja coalesces around two distinct models – an in-clinic model and an outreach-based out-of-clinic model in the community. Together, these two service delivery channels work to ensure that girls have a variety of options to engage with the intervention at locations, venues, and times most convenience for them. Regardless of the channel, both models follow the same overarching user journey for girls. Kuwa Mjanja is designed to offer an experience that cultivates a girl’s curiosity, taps into her life goals and aspirations, creates a safe and fun environment to ask questions, helps girls feel respected and safe when accessing services, and positions contraception as a relevant tool to help her achieve her goals. 

During in-clinic events, Kuwa Mjanja outreach teams convene on the grounds of designated public health facilities and work in partnership with providers and local government to engage in interactive dialogue sessions, offer girls Kuwa Mjanja’s aspirational program messaging, and youth-friendly service delivery. In-clinic events support girls to build confidence and bodily autonomy, making linkages to contraception as a tool to help them achieve their future goals.

During community-based out-of-clinic events, Kuwa Mjanja outreach teams work with government youth development officers and with local health officials to implement Kuwa Mjanja’s dynamic package of services through mobile outreach, in a tent or a community facility, apart from the health center. After an initial aspirational group talk, trainers orient girls to a vocational skill (such as making soap or reusable menstrual pads). During this session, trainers reinforce girls’ pride in developing and pursuing life goals. Kuwa Mjanja Queens, girls from within the community with an active social network who are identified by A360 in collaboration with local government actors, play a key role in mobilization in their respective wards, and serve as co-implementers during the out-of-clinic events. Though events were originally planned only on weekdays during regular service delivery hours, the A360 team recognized the importance of weekend events when client volume in public sector facilities is typically lower and providers have more time to offer tailored service delivery in line with the Kuwa Mjanja brand. Weekends likewise present fewer scheduling conflicts for girls related to school or family responsibilities. Therefore, the A360 team decided to hold out-of-clinic events on Saturdays, in addition to regularly scheduled weekday events.

In 2021, A360 pursued the design of a complementary intervention component to A360 which aimed to provide girls with more substantive support to pursue their economci goals.

Kishua Academy provides a scaffolded skills-building experience with elements of peer mentorship and partnership with TVET institutes.  Girls are recruited through Kuwa Mjanja, which implements community-based contraceptive service delivery events geared towards adolescents. Girls sign up for the Kishua Academy, are introduced to a cohort of their peers with whom they will be receiving skills training, and meet their ‘Career Dada,’ a peer mentor with whom they can build trust and have open discussions about their business goals, relationships, and SRH needs. They progress through a series of soft and business skills sessions and then are invited to join a specific course at a local TVET institute. Their engagement during and after these vocational skills training sessions includes opportunities to apprentice with ‘Career Mamas’ who are experienced female entrepreneurs within the community who can mentor and support girls to progress. Girls who opted to learn skills which were predominantly dominated by men in the community were sometimes placed with a ‘Career Baba’, an experienced businessman in the community who could mentor them in their chosen skill. After completing their courses, graduating cohorts are transitioned to local government which supports them (through Youth Development Officers / Community Development Officers) to apply for loans to grow their businesses through the local government-run youth development funding program. There is a moment post-graduation for the community to gather to celebrate girls for their accomplishment and participation in the program.

Kishua Academy was not taken into a pilot phase due to a lack of further funding for A360 in Tanzania.

During the co-creation for A360’s second investment phase, a shift in the geographic priorities of the project’s funders led to a decision for A360 to exit its programming in Tanzania. The project was given twelve months after the end of the first investment for this exit period. Leveraging the planning completed earlier in the co-creation process and capitalizing on existing government buy-in, A360 elected to pursue a process of expedited institutionalization of Kuwa Mjanja into government systems during this exit period. Additional scale through government-led expansion was not considered given limited time. The key learning question for this period was: What successes can be achieved and what tradeoffs must be made to pursue an accelerated process of institutionalization of Kuwa Mjanja into government systems over the course of a single year? Through a participatory process with government, A360 mapped out a process for how to pursue institutionalization. A360 also crafted a learning agenda to contribute to the global evidence base around the process and milestones for institutionalization. A publication in the journal Frontiers details the process and results of this accelerated institutionalization period.