The Aberdeen Women’s Centre (AWC)

The Aberdeen Women’s Centre (AWC) is a hospital providing a range of free health services to the women, adolescent girls and children of Sierra Leone. In particular they focus on fistula, maternal and child health, as well as family planning services. AWC’s mission is “to provide high quality, holistic care and treatment free of charge.” Their unique and specialized program for vulnerable girls provides free, high quality maternity care for underprivileged adolescent girls to deliver their babies in a safe and secure environment. Alongside the free, high quality medical care, in 2016 AWC set up the Dream Girls programme to provide wraparound support to vulnerable and destitute teenage girls before, during and after birth, by providing a safe space for socialising, learning and counselling. ‘Dream Girls’ also includes a Girls Hostel where first-time teenager mothers are taught hospitality and catering in the hope they will gain employment upon graduation from the programme. Girls also have an opportunity to integrate back into the formal school system through a partnership between AWC and EducAid school in Lumley. Purposeful is supporting AWS to establish a comprehensive database system to track all adolescent girls that are supported through AWC programs to inform insights and learning that inform design of future programs and advocacy to influence resources and policy that supports girls.