Moya Centre under the PIP department has initiated a new project for young moms in response to continuous escalation of statutory rape cases. This empowerment program aims to equip the teenage mothers with skills to raise their children, as well as adapting into the new role of parenting without losing themselves. The goal is for them to reach a high level of self-efficacy and rehabilitate themselves back into society.
It is within Moya’s objectives to ensure that children are enrolled in the healthcare system and giving them all the support, they need through that journey.
Moya Director- Nomcebo Makhubu
At first, we had a large group of young mothers together with the under-aged mothers. After clearly observing them during sessions with the other much older mothers, we decided to split the group. The Young mom’s cohort is a group for the moms who have had children at a considerably young age, which by law constitute as statutory rape cases. This, therefore, was the motivation to create an age-appropriate sub-group to intricately deal with their unique challenges.
This project seeks to empower and support our teen moms through Psychosocial interventions offered by a group setting. This is in line with the Moya Centre mission to take care of vulnerable children and work towards their holistic well-being.
This subset of a project is funded by SAHEE Foundation who also fund the entire Partners in Parenting mother project for a 12-month duration which started in June 2023 – June 2024. The Teen mom Cohort consists of 5 members so far, who are mothers under the age of 18 years. Our beneficiaries are offered family planning services, SRH and HIV education, Self-empowerment, parenting skills, and counseling sessions from our PIP trained staff and a professional psychologist.
The optimum goal for our teenage mothers is for them to enroll back to school and further their studies in the year 2024. The project also aims at providing income-generating support for them, so that they can be able to get back on their feet and be independent.