Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso – Mariam lives in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso’s vibrant capital city. She’s been a Tiko mobiliser since July 2023 when she was introduced to the platform through Billi Now Now, a partner organisation of Tiko’s with a mission to educate and empower young individuals on sexual and reproductive health. Billi Now Now! supports Tiko by engaging young women within the community, like Mariam, and encouraging them to become mobilisers to drive positive health behaviours among their peers.
Tiko has been in operation across Burkina Faso since 2021, working within Ouagadougou and Bobo Dioulasso in the south west to enable more than 74,000 girls to access sexual and reproductive health services.
Burkina Faso experiences a high unmet need for family planning. Education on access to contraceptives is often limited, and many adolescent girls and young women are not empowered to make decisions regarding their own sexual and reproductive health. Between 2015 and 2019, Burkina Faso experienced a 33% rate of unintended pregnancy. A study conducted in Burkina Faso in 2021 indicated that unintended pregnancies, and unsafe abortions, had increased even further since COVID-19.
As a mobiliser with Tiko, Mariam says she is able to create a positive impact on young girls in her community. Every day, she meets girls with a different story and a set of challenges unique to them. She’s noticed that some of the girls she speaks with are victims of sexual and gender-based violence. Many of the health challenges within Mariam’s community are not faced in silo. Tiko’s integrated approach works to affect change for adolescent girls and young women who are often exposed to the triple threat of new HIV infections, adolescent pregnancies and sexual and gender-based violence. In Burkina Faso, Tiko works beyond contraception to unlock access to services across sexual and gender-based violence, mental health and HIV.
Mariam is the eldest of five and is responsible for the care of her younger siblings. Mobilising for Tiko is providing Mariam with the ability to care for her family. Through Tiko, mobilisers earn rewards called ‘Tiko miles’ whenever a person they enrolled onto the platform accesses a health service. These ‘Tiko miles’ can be spent at local shops and kiosks to purchase essential items, or they can be traded in for cash payments. This opportunity has been important to Mariam, who uses Tiko miles to support the needs of her household. Through being part of her community in this way, Mariam is helping to drive long-term behaviour change among Ouagadougou’s youth population, supporting more young people with the agency to shape the course of their futures.
This story was written by Tiko, with consent from Mariam.
