evidoria

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Good practice

Women's Centre of Jamaica Foundation – Programme for Adolescent Mothers

Jamaica · Kingston · See the Jamaica profile

Since 1978, Jamaica's WCJF has served 46,989 adolescent mothers (aged ≤17) in a school-continuity programme; ~70% return to formal schooling, repeat-pregnancy rate below 2%, and Jamaica's adolescent fertility rate fell from 131 to 54 per 1,000 live births.

46,989
Young women served since inception
70 %
Participants reintegrated into formal school
131 per 1,000 live births
Jamaica adolescent fertility rate (at WCJF inception (1978))
54 per 1,000 live births
Jamaica adolescent fertility rate (current)
Women's Centre of Jamaica Foundation – Programme for Adolescent Mothers

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Women's Centre of Jamaica Foundation (WCJF)
Period
1978–present
Keywords
education, health, government

Context

Jamaica's Women's Centre of Jamaica Foundation (WCJF), established in 1978, enrols pregnant girls and young mothers aged 17 and under in a programme combining school-continuation support, childcare, parenting education and reproductive-health counselling, operating across seven centres and eleven outreach stations.

Results

The WCJF has served 46,989 young women since inception, enrolling around 1,250 annually; approximately 70% of participants are reintegrated into formal school, and the repeat-pregnancy rate has remained below 2% annually. Jamaica's adolescent fertility rate fell from 131 to 54 per 1,000 live births over the programme's operation, a decline the CEPAL Montevideo Consensus review attributes partly to WCJF's sustained scale.

Conclusions

A 1993 cost-benefit analysis found each Jamaican dollar invested returned J$6.70 in combined social and private benefits, totalling an estimated J$136.9 million that year.

Implementation

Implementation detail (cost, timeline, staffing, conditions for success) is not yet available for this practice.

Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

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