Back-to-School Campaign: What We Can Learn From Sierra Leone’s Adolescent Approach
How MSI Sierra Leone’s ‘back to school’ helps adolescents protect their futures.
What is the back-to-school campaign?
Every October as schools reopen, the MSI Sierra Leone team launches the back-to-school campaign. Focused on young people, the campaign involves a variety of activities to boost contraceptive awareness and uptake as pupils return to school. Activities include service delivery in schools, offering youth-friendly services at outreach sites, talks during school assemblies, and catchy radio jingles. The team understands their adolescent audience and knows that contraception can empower girls and help them stay in school.
Click here to listen to the back-to-school samba!
Why is this campaign so important?
43% of Sierra Leonean adolescents who want contraception do not have it. Unmet need is mostly concentrated among unmarried, pre-childbearing, rural adolescents–many of whom are in secondary school.
Even though knowledge of contraceptive care is high among adolescents in Sierra Leone at 98%, adolescents account for 40% of maternal deaths. Unsafe abortion is a major cause of death. The unmet need for contraceptive services is high, partly because young people in Sierra Leone face barriers such as geographical difficulties and misconceptions surrounding side-effects.
Locals refer to MSI Sierra Leone as ‘de mammy fo welbodi’ or ‘the mother of health’. With years of experience informing their strategy, a strong local reputation, and partnerships with the local government, MSI Sierra Leone is well-positioned to reach young people at a moment when they’re thinking about their education and hopes for the future.
The government launched its ‘National Strategy for the Reduction of Teenage Pregnancy’ in 2013, which lead to the establishment of the ‘National Secretariat for the Reduction of Teenage Pregnancy’. MSI Sierra Leone is an official partner, advocating for youth services and sexual education.
Impact & Insights
In outreach areas, the back-to-school campaign contributed to a significant spike in contraceptive uptake. During the campaign, over 50% of family planning clients were adolescents, compared to an average of 40% during the rest of the year.
The back-to-school campaign is an example of how community-centered social and behavioral interventions can influence access to sexual and reproductive health services. Through advocacy and youth-friendly service provision, young people in Sierra Leone are better able to take control of their health and their futures.
