UNFPA, in Partnership with ActionAid International Uganda (AAIU), has taken ending child marriages, teenage pregnancies, and other harmful practices seriously and has led several interventions to prevent its occurrence. The UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme to End Child Marriages and Teenage Pregnancies is the largest global programme to accelerate the ending of the vice among teenagers and thereby advance the rights, health, and well-being of women and girls.

Through financial support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), ActionAid International Uganda (AAIU) is calling upon young people and social change innovators, especially adolescent girls and boys, to submit initiatives to end early and unintended teenage pregnancy through social change innovative solutions and ideas in the communities in of Karamoja, Sebei and Northern Uganda thus eight districts namely:- Kapchorwa, Kween, Bukwo, Nakapiripirit, Amudat, Moroto, Napak, Otuke. The innovative solutions should demonstrate the impact of the already ongoing solutions to address teenage pregnancy.  The innovations should be bold and scalable ideas, including potentially commercially and socially viable ideas that can  support to achieve the goal of zero teenage pregnancy and child Marriages within communities. We welcome innovative ideas and solutions that are accessible to vulnerable adolescent girls and boys, including PWD, in the following areas.

1. Increasing the skills and capabilities of girls and communities to lead the change. 

• Empower girls to take leadership in the fight against teenage pregnancies and Child marriages.
• Develop girls and young women’s digital skills and literacy.
• Utilize the power of storytelling (all forms, including digital media) to prevent and respond to child marriages and empower young women and girls.
• Equip girls with life skills and self-worth, helping them realize their potential.

2. Changing Social, Cultural, & Gender Norms that encourage Child Marriages and Foster Teenage Pregnancies.

• Improve family decision-making for girls’ empowerment.
• Engage men and boys in the eradication of Child Marriage and teenage pregnancy.
• Increase youth and women’s organization’s involvement and collaboration in ending Child marriages.
• Empower teenage mothers to rehabilitate and use their experience to lead and inform the advocacy to change harmful social norms.
• Meaningful engagement of cultural and religious leaders on Alternatives of child marriages.
• Intensify multi-media campaigns (including emerging media) on social norms in targeted communities to end child marriages.
• Reward system for communities that combat child marriages.

3. Improving access to health services (health, social, legal) for Teenage Mothers and Adolescent Girls at Risk to. 

• Use technology solutions (mobile apps) in sharing information and accessing services and making it accessible to female and male adolescents, including PWD.
• Improve ‘survivor-centered’ health care services to respond to the needs of women and girls to end Child Marriages and Teenage Pregnancies.
• Quality referrals and linkages between services, health, education, police, justice, social services, shelters, andpsycho-social support.
• Integrate Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) and other services into response plans.
• Provide sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) information access through innovative solutions/ideas that provide equal access to information for female and male youths, including PWDs.

Selection Criteria 

• Six ideas from different innovators will be selected after an assessment of the proposals submitted.
• The 6 teams will have access to seed funding to a maximum of UGX 10,000,000 each (Ten Million Ugandan shillings) to test their proposed potential solutions over a period of 2 months supported by credible teams from AAIU and UNFPA.
• Selected innovators will be expected to complete pre-training activities on PSEA, Anti-Corruption, and a Human Rights-Based Approach (HRBA) and do a Live Pitch for their Ideas.