Pathways Out of Poverty for Youth in Africa

In Livingstone Zambia, we work with youth and the community, our goal is to provide young people with pathways out of poverty through our programmes. We focus on four pillars: Education, Wellness, Livelihoods, and Gender Equality.

Empowering Zambian youth and the community through education!

Addressing taboo or complex subjects can be challenging. Open dialogue is necessary to address the issues and inequalities affecting youth and communities. Through education and collective action, we can create an inclusive environment where openness and understanding replace stigma and shame.

In most traditional Zambian communities, sexual and reproductive health topics are seldom discussed in family settings and are not part of the school curriculum. Openly discussing sexuality is considered taboo. As a result, most families never have conversations around these topics, and as a result, most girls become pregnant at a young age without understanding even the most fundamental aspects of their bodies, such as how their reproductive system works, how to prevent early pregnancy, or how to take care of themselves. It is also the same for young men. In most cases, people learn about reproductive health by engaging in relationships with the opposite sex, through peers, friends, and, to a lesser extent, relatives. 

Through programmes like Girl Impact, LETS, and Youth Insaka, youth are exposed to knowledge and information to make informed decisions. Our programs contribute to girls staying in school, and making choices about their bodies, education, marriage, and livelihood. Additionally, girls and boys are connected to opportunities that benefit their livelihoods.

We are grateful to all our supporters who continue s provide pathways out of poverty for Zambian youth and the community.

To learn more about pathways out of poverty, the work we do and  our programmes visit https://www.africanimpactfoundation.org

Links:

• Website
• Gender Equality campaign
• Instagram

Since we introduced the Sexual reproductive health and basic well-being training, we have since trained a total of 119 participants from three different communities, namely: Linda, Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Clinic – Dambwa, and Nakatindi. These groups have had both women and men trained.

Every time we go to a new location to introduce the program, the participants are always eager and excited to gain more knowledge about their reproductive health and the use of the LETS Bracelet as a tool to track their menstrual cycle.

The LETS program covers several topics, such as; Making educated decisions creates opportunity, sex & trafficking, respect, understanding your body, the Menstrual cycle, how pregnancy happens, Women's & Men's fertility, menopause and Contraception, the LETS lunar bracelet, menstrual calendars. The LETS- Lunar bracelet.  

During one of the LETS sessions, the topic 'WHEN TO HAVE A BABY' was taught; the case in detail was about what is the right to have a baby. Financial support, education, and where the baby will stay are needed; the child also needs love and support from both parents. After the explanation supported by the lets learning teaching aid, many asked questions on the topic, such as what can you do if the father of the child doesn't support the child financially, and how can you improve your child's behavior who feels one of the parents doesn't love them, furthermore, some participants mentioned that how they wish they had this knowledge before they started having children of which they are not regretting that because this will help them become responsible parents because they have felt enlightened with the knowledge they have now, and to those who haven't yet started having children have said information is beneficial because they now know when to have a baby before conceiving what is needed and after the child is born.

One of the participants during the graduation ceremony said, “I’m very grateful for this opportunity to be part of this great program. I have learned a lot of things from understanding my body and knowing my menstrual calendar and the stages involved in a woman's cycle. I'm now confident I can teach other women about what I have learned from this program.”