By Ssaazi Kizito (SHE SOARS Youth Advisory Board)
One of the most striking lessons I learned from the 2025 SHE SOARS All Partners Meeting in Lusaka is that adolescent health and economic
empowerment are not parallel priorities—they are mutually reinforcing realities. When young people, for example, adolescent girls, are equipped with practical, income-generating skills, their ability to make informed, safe and dignified health decisions improves. In Kenya, SHE SOARS partner organisations like Hope Worldwide and the Centre for the Study of Adolescence (CSA) have been working with girls in fishing communities,
teaching them to make fishing nets. This is more than a livelihood—a quiet but powerful shift from dependency to dignity, reducing reliance on
exploitative exchanges with fishermen and restoring choice and control.
In Uganda, partners such as Naguru Teenage Centre, Restless Development, Fond Trust Agency, and Reach Out Mbuya, with support from CARE International Uganda, are training girls to produce essential items like reusable sanitary towels, mats, bags, clothes, and more. These products not only generate income but also address fundamental supply chain gaps in disadvantaged areas, making adolescent girls less vulnerable to missing school or compromising their health due to a lack of access. On innovation, CARE Kenya’s Dream Save App helps youth track savings, manage loans, and build financial profiles within Youth Savings and Loan Associations (YSLAS). With improved traceability and record-keeping, young people can plan their financial futures with confidence and clarity.
Even more exciting, this tool enhances program efficiency; YSLA data and performance analytics can be accessed digitally by program teams, eliminating the need to chase paper records or spend hours on manual data entry. The above examples show how empowering adolescents and young people through various economic skills, information, and activities enables them to care for themselves now and in the future.
This also includes being in spaces where they can make informed decisions about their social and health lives. The examples highlight that the more economically empowered adolescents are, the safer, healthier, and more dignified their lives become. They can afford and access essential health products and gain the confidence to say no to exploitative relationships. Economic empowerment isn’t just about income; it’s about agency. And that agency has a direct impact on health outcomes. It allows adolescents to choose based on their values, not vulnerability.
As the youth development and humanitarian sectors navigate shrinking budgets and emerging health challenges, including mental health, we need more smart, holistic investments, most especially those that include skills, dignity, and health in the same conversation. When a girl earns money, makes her pads, or saves through a digital platform, she’s not just surviving; she’s thriving.
