Overview

The Teen Mum Project is a transformative initiative supporting teenage mothers in Kabusa, an urban slum community in Abuja, Nigeria. The project responds to the urgent health, social, and economic challenges faced by adolescent mothers by strengthening their knowledge, improving health outcomes, and promoting long-term economic independence. It is designed not only as an intervention, but as a pathway to dignity, resilience, and self-reliance.

Approach

The project adopts a holistic, community-based empowerment approach that integrates health education, capacity building, and economic empowerment for pregnant teenagers and nursing young mothers in Kabusa Community.

Stakeholder Engagement

The Gem Hub team engaged the gatekeepers at Kabusa, to understand the peculiarity of young people in the community. The community chief, women leader, youth leader and other members of the council were present and shared how poverty breeds different vices in the community - rape, transactional sex, alcholism, gambling and the rest. With statistics on Kabusa as one of the communities with high burden of teenage pregnancy in Abuja Municipal Area Council, the team started mapping pregnant adolescents and nursing young mothers in the community. A pool of 50 young women was mapped.

Integrated Health Knowledge and Soft Skills Training

• The team provides health information through monthly learning sessions, by deepening their knowledge of:
• Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH)
• Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health (MNCH)
• Family Planning (FP)
• Builds the agency of  teenage mothers to be equipped enough to make informed decisions.
• Promotes safe motherhood practices and child wellbeing by encouraging antenatal and immunization uptake for their children.

 Safe Space and Community Engagement

• Creation of a supportive peer group for teenage mothers; the ladies look forward to these sessions as they have the opportunity to learn from each other, share their fears and support each other.
• It is a community-based delivery to ensure accessibility within Kabusa; their community.

Economic Empowerment Pathway

• Skills training in practical, lucrative, and exportable economic activities.
• Tailored livelihood support based on participants’ capacities and interests.
• Gradual transition from dependence to self-sufficiency.
• Linkage to opportunities from government and other social implementing partners.

Integrated Development Model

• Combines health education, psychosocial support, and income generation
• Designed to address both immediate needs and long-term structural challenges
• Medical Outreach and campaign against Hepatitis C.

 Reach

• The project currently directly engages  50 teenage mothers in Kabusa, Abuja.
• Participants are actively involved in monthly structured sessions focused on health education and empowerment.
• Teen Moms were linked to ActionAid’s initiative on Climate change. Two of them actively participated in the release of a song and one got a business idea when empowered on plastic recycling. https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_muAkUl3JyiY4zy98QRSHtmnZ3MP1Yw6II&si=X56-Mm6fo9KOILQR

Impact

Since its inception, the Teen Mum Project has made significant progress in improving the lives of participants:

• Improved Health Knowledge and Behaviour of 80% of the ladies, on SRH, MNCH, and Family Planning.
• 50% shows enhanced ability to make informed reproductive health decisions.
• 50% shows increased confidence and Self agency- participants are becoming more confident in managing their health and that of their children.
• Strengthened peer support systems have reduced isolation and stigma.

Conclusion

The Teen Mum Project is more than a support program, it is a structured empowerment pathway. By combining health education with economic opportunity, it equips teenage mothers in Kabusa with the tools to rebuild their lives, care for their children effectively, and achieve long-term self-reliance.