UNDERSTANDING THE BARRIERS TO GIRLS' SCHOOL RETURN: GIRLS' VOICES FROM THE FRONTLINE OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN EAST AFRICA

From October 2020 - March 2021, AMPLIFY Girls, undertook a multi-country qualitative research study to ask girls why they were dropping out of school and their recommendations to get young women back to school and back on track.The results are painful but important.

At the highest level, our findings suggest that pregnancy is the primary driver of girls’ dropout from school during the pandemic, but that pregnancy is a symptom of underlying, acute, economic vulnerabilities and is augmented by situations of social and physical isolation that are often mutually reinforcing. The overwhelming majority of FGD participants cited transactional sex for basic goods (such as food, clothing, and menstrual hygiene products) as the primary cause of unintended pregnancies in their communities. Accordingly, we found that economic precarity leading to transactional sex and unintended pregnancies was the most common pathway leading to girls’ dropout.

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Our research also suggests that the social stigma surrounding teen pregnancy and motherhood is the single biggest factor keeping girls from returning to school post-pandemic.

AMPLIFY Girls has recommendations for the world. They center around community-driven organizations and the incredible work they are doing in communities for girls and their families.