[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]By Emma Beck, Associate Communications Manager, PSI
“Girls,” the 9ja Girls provider’s voice radiates with energy. “What does it mean to have a crush?”
It’s a big question for a Saturday morning.
A small giggle emerges from a table in the back of the Bole Primary Care Facility.
Abiola, a youth-friendly health mobilizer, smiles – it’s always like this, she says. In Nigeria, girls don’t always have spaces to make their voices heard. And especially not when it comes to topics as taboo as crushes… or contraception.
Girls, she explains, simply need a little prodding.
“Mmm?” the provider challenges with a warm smile.
A young girl clad in an orange sundress moves her chair back. She stands up, hesitantly.
A pause.
“A crush is the attraction you have for someone,” she says softly.
“Yes!” the provider nods emphatically. “Let’s give Deborah a 9ja Girls cheer!”
Abiola taps her foot in rhythm with the chorus of claps. With more than 20 girls in attendance, she feels good calling today a success. After all, she played a role in making that happen.
As a health mobilizer, Abiola dives deep into her community, rallying young unmarried girls aged 15-19 each Saturday to join 9ja Girls’ Life, Love and Health class, a girls-only space for girls to gain skills to achieve their life goals.
But it’s not without its challenges.[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”4330″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][vc_zigzag color=”orange”][vc_column_text]
Filling a Health System Need
Girls in Abiola’s neighborhood – and among other communities across Nigeria – navigate a complex web of socio-cultural barriers that limit their access to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) information and services. Myths and misperceptions around contraception remain rampant and public health facilities often lack SRH services dedicated to youth.
The repercussions run deep.
According to the Demographic Health Survey, 23 percent of girls in southern Nigeria will give birth by age 19. Some three in 10 girls aged 15-19 want but, for a myriad of reasons, don’t have access to modern contraception. And across the nation, one in four pregnancies among this age group will end in an abortion, many of which are unsafe.
The need to pave pathways for young people to access SRH services remains imperative.[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_cta h2=”” h4=”By the Numbers” style=”flat” color=”pink” add_button=”bottom” btn_title=”Explore 9ja GIrls” btn_style=”classic” btn_shape=”square” btn_color=”inverse” btn_size=”lg” btn_align=”center” btn_link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fa360learninghub.org%2Fopen-source%2Finsight-synthesis%2Finsights-nigeria%2F||target:%20_blank|”]In 20 months:
- 69,254+ girls aged 15- to 19-have voluntarily taken up a modern contraceptive method
- 7 in 10 girls who engage with 9ja Girls take up a method
- 7 in 10 choose a long-acting method
The insights that have driven our impact? We’ve got you covered. Just click below.
*Data from Jan. 2018-Sept. 2019.[/vc_cta][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]Adolescents 360 (A360)’s 9ja Girls – an adolescent and youth SRH program powered by PSI and implemented by the Society for Family Health— helps fill a critical gap in programming for young people within the public health system.
The project, which works alongside young people and in partnership with public health facilities, breaks down the misperceptions surrounding contraception and delivers girl-defined spaces for unmarried girls aged 15-19 to make their health and life choices on their own terms.
And it works.
From January 2018 through September 2019, 9ja Girls has worked in nine Nigerian states to serve more than 69,254 15- to 19-year-old girls with modern contraception.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Roughly seven in 10 girls who engage with 9ja Girls voluntarily adopts a method, and about seven in 10 choose a long-acting method.[/vc_column_text][vc_zigzag color=”orange”][vc_column_text]
Girls with Plans
Abiola chuckles as another girl shoots up from her seat.
“What is love? Love is a deep feeling you have for someone,” a girl says.
“Yes! There is no right time to fall in love,” the provider responds.
Some 20 girls nod their heads.
Abiola leans over and says, “This is the Spice Talk.”
The Spice Talk sparks dialogue about everything from contraception to crushes. Girls partake in a Life Mapping exercise that prompts them to consider their life dreams and how contraception can serve as a tool in service of those goals.
A Method Talk follows, introducing girls to a range of contraceptive options, reinforcing the safety and reversibility of all methods all while noting that girls always have a choice.
Vocational skills training comes next, where girls learn how to bead or make soap. The inclusion came from girls’ own insights and a desire to learn how to work toward financial independence.
9ja Girls closes with girls meeting one-on-one for contraceptive counseling with a 9ja Girls trained youth-friendly provider.
All counseling, and content, supports girls to identify their dreams, priorities and needs.
For Abiola, this is everything.[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]
She starts her rounds each Saturday morning, going door-to-door to meet with girls’ parents to secure their interest and consent before encouraging girls themselves to attend a 9ja Girls session.
“It’s amazing relating to girls,” Abiola says. “We talk to them as adults. And they find the content interesting once they are here.”
On cue, a ring of giggles echoes from the room. An IUD dangles from the providers’ grip, her other hand clutching onto a wooden box displaying a medley of contraceptive options.
“This is safe. This is reversible. It is your choice, whichever you use” the provider says.
Abiola smiles, “I love everything about this work.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_zigzag color=”orange”][vc_cta h2=”” h4=”Insights -> Prototypes” style=”flat” color=”pink” add_button=”bottom” btn_title=”Explore the prototypes” btn_style=”classic” btn_shape=”square” btn_color=”inverse” btn_size=”lg” btn_align=”center” btn_link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fa360learninghub.org%2Fopen-source%2Fprototyping%2Freport-card-nigeria%2F||target:%20_blank|”]9ja Girls responds to girls’ expressed desire for trusted sources, and safe spaces to turn to for questions about body changes and life choices.
9ja Girls allows girls to seamlessly gain entrepreneurial skills to support their desire for financial independence; ask questions about their bodies and lives; and access sexual and reproductive health services in service of girls’ self- expressed need to navigate changing, complex times.
But it took some trial and error to finally land an intervention that works.
Get insights into the steps we took to think strategically and intentionally to develop the best prototypes for our work in Nigeria.[/vc_cta][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_zigzag color=”orange”][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]
This feature is a part of the 9ja Girls’ story series. Keep exploring by clicking here, or the additional stories below.
[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”4377″][vc_column_text]A Youth-Friendly Provider’s Story: Deliver on What Girls Want and Need, Today[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”4330″][vc_column_text]A Mobilizer’s Story: Saturday is Girls-Only Day[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”4240″][vc_column_text]A Health Education Officer’s Story: The girl-defined spaces breaking down taboos[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”4328″][vc_column_text]A Medical Officer of Health’s Story: We Must Not Overlook Adolescent Health[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”4329″][vc_column_text]A Mother’s Story: At First, This Mother Was Skeptical. That’s Since Changed.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”4391″][vc_column_text]Beth’s Story: A Voice and a Choice[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner]
