One of the innovators presenting her product.
Teen pregnancy is one of the major black spots on Rwanda’s historic transformation journey.
Since 2015 the number of young women below the age of 20 years of age giving birth has been above 15000 per year. In 2021, over 23000 babies were given birth to by teenagers with Nyagatare district recording the highest figure followed by Gatsibo.
Several reports have repeatedly singled out the lack of right and accurate information on sexual reproductive health among young people as the major cause of this public health silent epidemic as young ones tend to believe any word whispered in their ears to be the truth.
To address this issue, the government in 2017 introduced and incorporated some concepts of sexual reproductive health in a new curriculum with the hope to use the class and school as an enabling infrastructure in making the right knowledge more accessible.
Also, the lack of information has been attached to a deep-seated culture of silence in Rwandan society most especially among parents who are being accused of shying away and sometimes repudiating the conversation about sexuality once confronted by their children.
In return like an act of not accepting defeat, the parents have been also blaming the government for not doing enough for them, arguing that the pressure to have enough to feed the family has made them scarcer in their children’s lives.
The trading of accusations between the government and parents seems to have benefited and led to the growth of one sector (civil society). Today apart from those who attend to people with specific needs it is nearly impossible to find a civil society organization without a statement about sexual reproductive health.
Some guests during the Founders Friday
Yet despite billions that have been and are still being allocated to civil society organizations, a hunt for a breakthrough that recognizes and attends to underlying causes is still on.
With the involvement of civil society organizations showing no significant impact, is time to have a paradigm shift and turn to innovators for sustainable solutions if yes what shape and form should they take to be financially viable to catch the investors’ eyes?
A discussion that was central during the February Founders’ Friday on Sexual Reproductive Health part of the Hanga pitch series where innovators and entrepreneurs in SRH presented their innovative business ideas with a conviction of being bankable and potentially scalable claiming they solve the underlying causes.
The event featured innovators and entrepreneurs behind some of the promising startups and social enterprises majorly Urukundo Initiative, Joe Care, Luna, Dope Initiatives, and Komostive.
The innovators and founders were given time to present and share their ingenuity in ensuring that young people get access to the right information using their developed products. They also used the platform to present to the audience the registered milestones and size of funds each needs to scale up their operations.
All speakers seemed to be convinced and confident that their products respond to the central need of making SRH information more accessible to young people but at small pay.