The Role of the Girls’ Parliament in Combating Teenage Pregnancy and Child Marriage in Pujehun District
As a way of sustaining the foundational approaches from the Young Women Leading Change Innovation Challenge, with support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA Sierra Leone) and the Ministry of Youth Affairs, Sierra Leone (MOYA). The United Team Sierra Leone (U Team SL), in collaboration with the Pujehun District Students’ Association-National (PuDSA) and the Children’s Forum Network Sierra Leone (CFN), has commemorated the Day of the African Child (June 16th 2025), at the Pujehun District Council Hall in Pujehun town.
The Girls To Girls Conference was hosted under the Theme: “The Role of the Girls’ Parliament in Combating Teenage Pregnancy and Child Marriage in Pujehun District.”
The collaborative partnership has opened a formidable coordination between partners, creating a collective sense of commitment in addressing the issues of teenage pregnancy and child marriage in the district. This productive Girls To Girls Conference has enhanced girls from various schools and communities; who are respectively serving as members of the Girls’ Parliament, the PuDSA Gender School Clubs and the CFN members, with formidable platform to take full responsibility by injecting positive change in society. The partnership will continue to strengthen safe spaces for girls, helping them to take full ownership, advancing leadership opportunity, and empower them with career development skills. It will also help to increasing public education and awareness, fostering unity and understanding among girls, and empowering them to advocate and address girl child’s challenges, including teenage pregnancy, child marriage and other offenses against girls in the district.
MICHAELLA HAWA JAH, KEYNOTE SPEAKER – GIRLS TO GIRLS CONFERENCE IN PUJEHUN DISTRICT ON THE DAY OF THE AFRICAN CHILD (JUNE 16TH 2025)
Honourable Members of the Girls’ Parliament, Representatives from the UN Team Pujehun, Representative from UNFPA, Representative from the Ministry of Youth Affairs, my respectable sisters present here today, Distinguished guests, I greet you in the name of peace and unity.
I’m Michaella Hawa Jah, the Honourable Speaker of the Girls’ Parliament in Pujehun district. I am honoured to stand before you today as a Keynote Speaker for this all-important Girls To Girls Conference, as a way of commemorating the Day of the African Child in our beloved Pujehun district. I warmly welcome each and every one of you to this transformative Girls To Girls Conference, proudly facilitated by our own Girls’ Parliament, and powered by the United Team of Pujehun District (UN Team Pujehun), with the unwavering support of UNFPA and the Ministry of Youth Affairs.
Speaking on the theme: ‘The Role of the Girls’ Parliament in Combating Teenage Pregnancy and Child Marriage in Pujehun District’ is a true evidence demonstrating the active involvement and participation of girls in addressing the unbearable challenges, since the launched of this enviable Girls’ Parliament on March 8th this year.
The Day of the African Child has been celebrated on June 16th every year since 1991, when it was first initiated by the Organization of African Unity (OAU). This day honours those who participated in the Sweto Uprising in 1976. It also raises awareness of the continuing need to improve the education provided to African children. This year’s celebration is a clarion call to reflect deeply on our roles, our responsibilities, and our dreams in combating teenage pregnancy and end child marriage in our district. As young girls, we are not only the future but we are the now, and we must be the signpost of our own solution and the progress we celebrate.
Michelle Obama once observed that: “When girls are educated, their countries become stronger and more prosperous.” Today, I want us to speak honestly and act boldly on an issue that continues to hold back our potential: teenage pregnancy and child marriage. In Pujehun District, too many girls have dreams that are interrupted too soon. This must change. And the Girls’ Parliament is here to lead that change.
Distinguished Girls, understanding the issue under discussion – Teenage Pregnancy and Child Marriage – Let’s be real:
Teenage pregnancy is not just a mistake it is often a symptom of lack of information, limited access to services, peer pressure, gender inequality, and broken systems. Child marriage is not culture it is a violation of our rights. It steals our education, our health, and our childhood. The Prohibition of the Child Marriage Act, 2024 has taught us much about the consequences and how to end child marriage. Records on teenage pregnancy and child marriage are not just statistics. They are stories of our friends, our classmates, our sisters and sometimes, our own.
Our Role as the Girls’ Parliament
As the Girls’ Parliament of Pujehun district, we are not just observers we are advocates, protectors, and change-makers. Here’s how we are taking action:
Education and Awareness: We conduct school-to-school sensitization programs, community dialogues, and peer-to-peer talks. We teach girls about their rights, their bodies, and their choices. Knowledge is power, and we are spreading it across the district and beyond.
Policy Influence: We engage with government, development partners, local leaders, parents, and stakeholders to push for laws and enforcement that protect girls from early marriage and sexual exploitation. We speak in council halls, on radios, televisions, and even at national levels because our voices must be heard where decisions are made.
Safe Spaces: We are creating safe spaces where girls can speak freely, learn confidently, and grow into leaders. Through clubs, mentorship circles, and youth hubs, we are building a strong sisterhood across Pujehun district. Our participation here today is a clear indication of our commitment to sustaining the safe spaces for girls.
Support for Survivors: We link girls in crisis to the right services counselling, health care, legal support because healing and justice matter. In this regard, the UN Team Pujehun has supported us with five lawyers to tackle child marriage, rape and other offenses of crimes against girls.
Men & Boys Engagement: We know we cannot do this alone. We involve our brothers, our fathers, our male peers because ending child marriage and teen pregnancy is everyone’s fight. And we will continue to dialogue with them to enhance effectiveness in all our actions.
Call to Action – To You, the Girls: So now I turn to you my brave, beautiful sisters: You are not too young to lead. You are not too small to speak. You are not too late to change your story. Ask questions. Seek help. Stand up for your rights. Be your sister’s keeper.
Let us continue to push forward with the energy of the Young Women Leading Change Innovation Challenge, powered by the U Team SL, UNFPA and the Ministry of Youth Affairs.
Teenage Pregnancy and Child Marriage can be eradicated with the power of education. Let us fight to gain education as girls. The former UN Secretary General – Papa Kofi Annan says: “To educate girls is to reduce poverty.” Girls should be empowered to take action because we are not waiting for change we are becoming the change. Be a member of the Girls’ Parliament and become the role model we want as a district.
As I conclude, let us be mindful that we cannot all succeed when half of us are held back. We call upon our sisters around Pujehun district to be brave, to embrace the strength within themselves, and realise their full potential.
I am quite sure that some of you attended the launching of the Girls’ Parliament on March 8th 2025. Prior to the launching, we have already established the parliamentary club in the various schools within the district. At the initial stage, ten pupils are representing each school in the club. This is to ensure that young girls are giving the platform to come together to advocate for their rights, amplify their voices, and shape the decisions that affect our lives.
Together, let us dream beyond limitations. Let us rise beyond barriers. Let us protect our future and shape it with boldness, courage, and unity. Long live the Girls’ Parliament! Long live the Girls of Pujehun district! Long live the African Child! Michaella Hawa Jay, Hon. Speaker, Girls Parliament.
About The U Team SL
The United Team Sierra Leone (U Team SL) formerly United Team of Pujehun District (UN Team Pujehun) – Motto: “We Are Stronger Together” is a registered non-profit indigenous developmental organization operating in Sierra Leone, established in 2014 but gained formal recognition on the 1st of January 2018. Which has nationally gained a productive ground, in the area of development, social change, economic growth and humanitarianism.