Understanding the Lived Experiences of Pregnant and Parenting Adolescents in Korogocho, Nairobi, Kenya

While a constellation of governments, advocacy actors, researchers, and partners has focused their attention on reducing adolescent pregnancies, there is less focus on the wellbeing of pregnant and parenting adolescent girls in Africa. The need to develop programs and policies that support the empowerment of pregnant and parenting adolescents is paramount, given that millions of girls start childbearing in their adolescence in Africa, which puts them at significant risk of poor health, social, and economic outcomes. Such interventions must be guided by rigorous and contextually relevant evidence. Drawing on our experience of implementing lived experiences surveys among pregnant and parenting adolescents in Malawi and Burkina Faso as part of the Challenging the Politics of Social Exclusion project, the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC), in partnership with Miss Koch Kenya and the Directorate of Children’s Services, Nairobi County, conducted a mixed-methods study on the lived experiences of these pregnant and parenting adolescent girls in Korogocho, an informal settlement in Nairobi.