A Glimpse of New Light for Girls in the COVID-19 Pandemic Period

Our organization Centre for Women Empowerment in Technology (CWE-TECH) recently launched a new product with girls of Kowidi Secondary school during the COVID-19 pandemic.  This was informed by a survey in Kenya on surges of teenage pregnancies. There was a 40% rise in the number of teen pregnancies in Kenya, with 152,000 pregnancies reported within three months at the onset of Covid-19 pandemic. There was lack of youth friendly services in clinics and hospitals too.

CWE-TECH was able to guide the girls of Kowidi secondary school to rapidly explore, build, and test a new idea and solution on their sexual reproductive health and livelihood. They were able to prototype a solution for adolescent girls for a challenge which was around the following question:

How might we equip girls to hold governments accountable on the delivery of youth-friendly health services during the COVID pandemic?

After deliberations, discussions, explorations in three teams, the girls came up with a product known as ‘Techy Girl’

Techy Girl is a mobile game played during a clinic visit that collects feedback for government accountability. It gamifies reporting to make it fun and engaging for girls. At the clinic, girls now have a mechanism to give feedback on their live experiences at the clinic. The game prompts girls to know what to look for, what to expect, and ultimately what they deserve in a clinic.