Healthy Women and Girls Project in Mozambique

Canada will provide $12.8 million to PLAN Canada over four years, from 2016 to 2020, for a project in Mozambique to support the health and rights of women and girls.

The Healthy Women and Girls project will help to improve the provision of health services to women and adolescent girls in three underserved areas in Mozambique’s Nampula province. The project aims to reduce the risks associated with child and early forced marriage and early pregnancy, especially for girls aged 15 to 19 years. It is expected to reach over 45,000 direct beneficiaries, mostly women and girls of child-bearing age.

Mozambique ranks seventh worldwide with respect to the prevalence of child and early forced marriage. One of the highest rates is found in Nampula province, where 59 percent of girls are married under the age of 18, and there is a 46-percent rate of early pregnancy among adolescent girls.

Working with PLAN Mozambique, PLAN Canada will partner with N’weti, a recognized Mozambican non-governmental organization known for its pioneering work to bring about positive social change through mass media, social mobilization and advocacy. The project will also support Mozambique’s Ministry of Health to address existing gaps in the quality of sexual and reproductive health services for adolescents.

The project activities will include:

• development of 48 radio programs and mobilization events in 60 villages;
• establishment of 1,440 community support groups;
• support to 90 traditional sexual health counsellors and traditional birth attendants; and
• training of 60 community health committees with 720 members.

In addition to contributing to the design of the project, women and girls will play an important role in its implementation. Community health committees will provide space to empower women and girls to voice their opinions and influence their community action plans.

Canada’s support for this project is aligned with its commitment to safeguarding the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and girls and to ending child and early forced marriage.

Canada is committed to working in partnership with all stakeholders to promote the full range of sexual and reproduction rights of women and girls, including access to safe abortions in compliance with country-specific legal frameworks.