By Yonatan Tamiru, Communication Advisor, Tesfaye Solomon, MNCH Project Officer, PSI Ethiopia “We were young, we had nothing. If I had gotten pregnant then, I don’t know where we would be today.” That is how Alfia Abadir describes the early years of her marriage, not with regret, but with the quiet honesty of someone who...

At 18, Meseret Shafa’s life took a turn she did not choose. Just as she was preparing for her Grade 12 national exams, financial pressure and deeply rooted social expectations forced her into marriage. Her education stopped overnight. Soon after, she became the mother of two daughters. For Meseret, the future she had imagined, finishing...

Country Solutions Across all four countries, A360 programming is driven by girls’ dreams to achieve their self-defined life goals.  Kenya Ethiopia Nothern Nigeria Southern Nigeria Tanzania Kenya Binti Shupavu From the Swahili words Binti, meaning ‘young woman’ or ‘daughter,’ and Shupavu, translating to ‘strong’ or ‘fearless,’ Binti Shupavu is a vibrant brand in Kenya which...

Married at 15, 17-year-old Zulfatu Yahaya from Jigawa State has had three miscarriages. This is because she believes in traditional healing, herbs and roots. “I didn’t believe in Western medicine or clinics.” She was in hospital at the time of writing this article; seven months pregnant, another pregnancy gone wrong. This particular one started at...

Whenever Sada* talks to young girls her age or younger, they are most fascinated by the fact that she wants to be a plumber. Because “girls don’t do such jobs,” they tell her. She is adamant and averse to the idea that people should be “chosen for jobs that they should or shouldn’t do.” She...

17-year-old Maimuna Salihu is pregnant. This isn’t an isolated occurrence in Andaza, Jigawa State, Northwest of Nigeria. What might be uncommon is how she is feeling. She’s often sick; she has difficulty breathing, dizziness, lethargy, and general malice. She sometimes vomits, loses her appetite, and spends her days either sleeping or thinking about sleep. “These...

My name is Hana Markos, and I’m 19 years old. I’m a member of Kemisie’s VSLA at Teza Gereba Kebele in Kedida Gamela District, Central Ethiopia. Having dropped out in Grade 10 and immediately got married, I never finished school because I thought it would be easier to be a wife than a student. I...

Narok County hosted a three-day cluster meeting from February 11th to 13th, 2025, bringing together health professionals, and county directors to discuss key strategies for improving Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health (ASRH) across several counties. The meeting focused on the the A360 program and its efforts to institutionalize adolescent health initiatives within government systems. The event...