Empowerment of girls and women is critical for the socio-economic development of communities and nations because it enables this segment of the population to participate
more fully in decision making and economic development. Since the 1994 International
Conference on Population and Development various efforts at country level have been put
in place to equip girls and women with knowledge and skills that broaden their choices array
and enables them to make informed decisions on a wide range of issues affecting their lives
with the aim of improving their wellbeing.

Teenage pregnancy has been recognized as one of the demographic events that negatively affect the future of young girls and the empowerment of women in general. Most times,
teenage pregnancy means the end of schooling, beginning of motherhood in childhood, and
an uncertain future for the underage mother and her child for those who survive the health
risks associated with teenage pregnancies. This is a worldwide problem and various efforts,
including policy and programme approaches, have been put in place to reduce and eventually
eliminate it.