The COVID-19 pandemic exposed human weaknesses and strengths while bringing the globe to a halt. Its wide-ranging impacts affected many facets of society, including the environment, social interactions, health, and the economy.
It was a monumental condition of affairs, unlike anything that had been seen on such a worldwide scale in more than a century. Researchers from many fields would undoubtedly be interested in studying the phenomena and its effects on humanity once the stillness had subsided. One such study was the “Economic and Health impact and the resilience of last mile populations in artisanal and small-scale mining unplanned settlements in Sub-Saharan Africa before, during, and after COVID-19: The case of Ghana and Uganda” project.
The study’s principal investigator (PI) was Betty Kwagala of Makerere University. Her co-PIs were Deborah Mensah of the Northern Empowerment Association in Ghana, Lydia Kapiriri of Macmaster University in Canada, Lydia Osei of the University of Ghana, Stephen Wandera of Makerere University, Fred Ngabirano of the Ministry of Gender Labour and Social Development in Uganda, and Miriam Mutabazi of Save the Mothers East Africa at Uganda Christian University.
As part of their study, the research team evaluated the coping strategies and economic and health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on adolescent girls in artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) communities. This was done to help them be more resilient in the future and be able to handle similar crises and recover from them.
Findings
Adolescent girls and young women’s (AGYW) health and economic vulnerability increased as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and has not yet stabilized, according to the results of the study’s Uganda arm, which were released on March 16, 2025, in Kampala. AGYW are among the 40,000 or so women employed in ASM communities. The majority of the AGYM in the sector were in extreme poverty, according to the results, which made their problems with sexual and reproductive health worse.
“The primary cause of gender-related vulnerabilities was poverty, which intensified during COVID-19 and resulted in risky sexual behaviors like transactional sex and multiple sexual partnerships, which ultimately led to many people contracting STDs,” Prof. Betty Kwagala stated.
The research team’s findings were complemented by testimonies from some of the adolescent girls and young women from the study districts of Busia, Kassanda, and Namayingo, who attended the dissemination workshop. They tagged their predicament to naivety, ignorance, neglect from their families, and gender discrimination, among other drivers.
Co creation & intervention
It was evident from hearing the study results and AGYW testimonies why poverty, as well as gender and sexual reproductive health outcomes, influenced the resulting intervention that was test piloted, even though the study findings also revealed environmental and occupational health challenges.
One of the drawbacks of the difficult times that came to be associated with the Covid-19 outbreak was that some young girls would engage in unprotected sexual encounters with whoever would provide them a basic diet of beans and chapati in order to survive. “When girls go to the mines, often it is ‘you give me I give you’. Young girls want to survive. They will do whatever the boy asks in order to get soil that contains gold,” a key informant was quoted as saying.
Against this backdrop, the pilot intervention focused on the following:
• Financial literacy, business skills training and facilitating the formation of village saving and loans associations
• Vocational skilling in catering, hair dressing and tailoring
• Adolescent sexual and reproductive health, life skills and advocacy
• Gender empowerment training (Eastern Uganda)
• Mobile clinics (Eastern Uganda – Partnered with Amalgamated Transport and General workers Union (ATGWI), an NGO that provides SRH services to high risk groups in Busia district)
• The groups formed in each location had a multi sectoral purpose (economic VSLA model and health) (up to 50 AGYW are involved)
• Trained peer mentors (more of TOT) for purposes of replication and sustainability. (21 in the three districts)
• Have group patrons that are linked to the districts to ensure continuity and sustainability
Impact
• The young women were able to reach out to their peers (group members increased from 15 to 59AGYW).
• Just by training – many saved and started income generating activities (70%)
• Multiple income streams– some are very successful e.g. sales of 400,000 as day, employing 2 workers, saving 20,000 daily
• The young women are now respected and are role models in the community –
• They are now respected in homes, consulted and participate in decision making in households
• Some countered domestic violence, resolved conflicts, reported cases, and left abusive the unions
• Many embraced abstinence to reset their lives and while others embraced contraceptive use from an informed position.
The study was conducted under the Women Rise Project with financial support from Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and partners.