UN Women empowers Salima teen mothers

United Nations Women (UN Women), through the We Learn Virtual Skills School pilot project, has empowered teen mothers with basic digital skills after their re-admission in school after pregnancies and child marriages.

In an interview, UN Women national programmes office Pamela Mkumba-Matumbi said there is need for girls to be equipped with digital skills at an early stage.

“Technology these days is helping people to easily access information about education, business, and markets of different commodities.

“That is why we have empowered these girls with digital skills so that they are able to familiarise themselves towards the direction that the world is moving to,” she said.

Mkumba-Matumbi said the initiative will help girls to share useful skills and information obtained through the Internet.

In her remarks, Traditional Authority  Mwanza of Salima in whose area the project is being implemented, said the skills that the girls have attained will help them to do well in their education.

“The skills that the girls have attained are necessary as the world is changing. However, there is need to do more as the girls do not have a way of practising the skills they have acquired due to lack of resources in the community,” she said.

A beneficiary, Aluwan Foster, a Form Four student at Mbilira Community Day Secondary School said the skills are essential and have come at the right time.

The programme has trained 82 girls.