Masenge Mba Hafi

MASENGE MBA HAFI Program started in 2020 in Rukara sector, Kayonza District, Eastern Province of Rwanda due to the continuous and quick rise of teenage pregnancies among the adolescent girls in the country. The Aunts are valued and trusted community volunteers and their intervention is needed because of the limited capacity of parents in their children’s sexual education and their frustration when their children (girls) get pregnant. Therefore, MASENGE MBA HAFI is a home-grown solution and special model for the holistic community-based approach to handle those issues.

MASENGE MBA HAFI Program is currently implemented in 3 Districts of Rwanda (Kayonza, Gatsibo and Rwamagana Districts) with a high need to expand in other areas of the country.

Initially, the beneficiaries were in 4 categories (teenage girls at high risk to get pregnant, teenage pregnant girls, teen mothers and their children).  Actually, the program targets all the youths with compounded vulnerabilities including seen in the following categories:

• Youths with disabilities
• Teen mothers & their children
• Youths geographically isolated
• Youths sex workers (males and females)
• Youths living with HIV

The beneficiaries of “MASENGE MBA HAFI” program are holistically empowered in the cultural, moral, emotional, psychological, judicial, spiritual, medical, nutrition and socio-economic ways. And since we started implementation, several positive changes were observed:

• The rise of teenage pregnancies reduced For 3 consecutive years (2018-2020), Rukara sector was ranked the first sector with the highest number of teenage pregnancies in Kayonza District. Currently (2021), the rate has decreased, Rukara ranked the 5th.
• The economic dependence of young mothers has 433 young mothers were empowered through the livelihoods (360 engaged in mushrooms farming and 54 in tailoring and handcrafts)