DREAMS Innovation Challenge delivered programming to reduce HIV infection and increase resilience by retaining girls in secondary school and providing teen mothers who were forced to drop out of school with alternative education platforms.
PEPFAR
LUMBOMBO REGION, ESWATINI
2016 - 2018
Adolescent girls who attend school, delay marriage, and delay childbearing, are less vulnerable to disease including HIV and AIDS, and acquire information and skills that lead to increased earning power. Evidence shows that returning to a year of secondary education for girls correlates to a 25% increase in wages later in life. Providing girls with an education helps to break the cycle of poverty, creating a ripple effect of opportunity that influences generations to come. We implemented a two-year program in Eswatini that reached 1,800 at-risk girls in Sithobela and Siphofaneni, delivered programming to retain girls in secondary school, and reached adolescent wives and young mothers who were forced to drop out of school through unique alternative education platforms. The programming increased educational outcomes, increased social assets, and changed social norms with regard to girls’ education.
