Opinion piece authored by Serah Malaba, Chief Impact Officer at Tiko, and Myriam Sidibé, Founder and Chief Mission Officer at Brands on a Mission
Health systems in Sub-Saharan Africa are failing to meet the needs of adolescent girls and young women: the prevalence of unwanted and unintended pregnancies among this population is at ~30% and 20% give birth before their 20th birthday. Without a concerted effort to support integrated Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR), we are unlikely to meet the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on Good Health and Well-being or Gender Equality.
When there has been such a great investment in Women and Girls’ health over the past 20 years and when there are so many inspiring, capable people devoted to this issue, why does it feel like the path is getting harder and that we’re being forced to retrace our steps? How can we change the trajectory of Women and Girls’ health in Africa?
These questions inspired us – Brands on a Mission and Tiko – to come together at the 79th United Nations General Assembly in New York to call for existing and new collaborators to implement, advocate and partner for innovative financing models for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) infrastructure and services in Africa.
By 2030, African adolescents will make up over 24% of the global youth population. The SRHR needs of adolescent girls are growing and the challenge they’re facing is immense. The funding gap is in the billions, and the lives lost and at risk are in the millions. And those lives lost continue to be women and girls. Meanwhile, the future looks uncertain from immediate geo-political shifts and the rising dangers of climate change and its disproportionate effect on women and girls in Low- and Middle-Income Countries.
Against these ever-evolving dynamics, and competing public health challenges, governments are over-stretched and over-burdened. However, the organisations and businesses who operate in the communities in which these African adolescent girls live are strongly positioned to complement government services and ensure that the health and wellbeing of this significant segment – the future of our societies – isn’t neglected.
There is therefore an urgent need and opportunity to focus on girl-centered, innovative financing models, such as blended or outcomes-based financing as we have implemented at Tiko in Ethiopia and Kenya. To do this, we need to incentivize and motivate new players to enter the space, to convince them that SRHR is not only good for health outcomes but is also good for business. We know this approach works from our experiences at Brands on a Mission leveraging multi-sector platforms in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
We know that no issue can be solved alone and that there is no single panacea to fix this. But there is room for everyone – and we need everyone – as the issue is too big to face alone.
We therefore need to build:
- Committed collaborators across the public and private spheres that we incentivize to finance impact investment initiatives that address these issues for adolescent girls.
- Bold new coalitions through transformative partnerships that are rooted in a shared mission that transcends the boundaries of any single organisation, public or private, to drive systems change whereby adolescents’ SRHR is everybody’s business.
- New social norms both on the issues and barriers that adolescent girls face, and changing perceptions on how businesses can effectively and sustainably contribute to SRHR outcomes.
Let us move beyond traditional boundaries and dare to collaborate in new and unexpected ways to develop the type of platforms or coalitions, that will allow private, public and social sectors to join forces and scale up innovative financing models that will secure the future of SRHR for African communities.
Today we call upon you – businesses, industry leaders, funders, donors, governments, civil society – to collectively commit to develop, invest and implement new innovative financing and partnerships models that catalyse and enable sustained financing for SRHR in Sub-Saharan Africa. We need to protect our African societies – and most of all our adolescent girls – so that they can flourish and thrive and fully live out their hopes, desires and dreams.