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Reclaiming teenage mothers’ dreams, plans and potential
Like mother, like son; Ana Francini González Avalos’ son Tairon is a restless, intelligent 7 year old who knows how to read and wants to learn much more. Fran, as she likes to be called, has always been a quick study.…
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After an adolescent pregnancy drove them apart, here’s how one family in Rwanda reconnected
When Nyiranzavugimana Florence was 19 years old, she fell unexpectedly pregnant. Initially, family and friends reacted by shunning her – subjecting Ms. Nyiranzavugimana to the shame, isolation and stigma that too often…
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Engaging communities in Malawi to end child marriage and help girls finish school
“I had to go against some deeply-held traditions to persuade my people that girls need access to education, just like boys,” said village head Patete, watching as a group of girls walked to school in Malawi’s Machinga…
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Girls in Uganda report being lured across the border to undergo female genital mutilation
Fourteen-year-old Judith* and five other Pokot girls were lured across the border, into Kenya from Uganda, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The reason: To undergo female genital mutilation. The perpetrator: One…
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Compounding crises endanger women and girls amid Pakistan’s unprecedented flooding
Amid the worst-ever flooding Pakistan has ever faced, Guddi and her 8-month-old daughter, Akshara, are both struggling with hunger. Akshara was recently taken to a clinic to be treated for severe acute malnutrition, and…
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Health and violence risks multiply for women and girls in Kenya as worst drought in 40 years takes hold
Chants of “Apei Apei ng’akankomwon ng’akan!” ring out from a group of women sitting under a tree. The words translate to “One, one, nine, five” – Kenya’s national gender-based violence helpline number.
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Soaring violence, fuel crisis and a cholera outbreak: Haiti in the grip of a “humanitarian catastrophe”
As protection, health-care and essential services break down, the violence and volatile political and economic crisis engulfing Haiti has rapidly deteriorated into what the UN has described as a humanitarian catastrophe.
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Under increasing conflict and climate crises, young people’s mental health bears a heavy burden
“I remember walking in the cold for a very long time, scared of the explosions and tanks passing near our house,” said 12-year-old Malina, who was forced to flee her hometown of Odesa in Ukraine as the war closed in.
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Forced into early motherhood, a child rape survivor in the Comoros fights stigma to finish school
“I followed him into the house. I didn’t know he was going to rape me.” At just 13 years old, Mariama* was sexually assaulted by a neighbour when she returned home from school: Nine months later, still a child herself,…
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