Introduction and Objectives

There has been a steady increase in the number of live births among very young adolescents, specifically ages 10-14 years old, since 2009. Factors such as unprotected sexual activities, family, peers, the media, and other underlying institutional factors are associated with the rise of adolescent pregnancies. With that, the Comprehensive Action Plan to Prevent Adolescent Pregnancies in the Philippines under Executive Order No. 141 aims to combat the ongoing trend. 

The main objective of this project is to provide technical assistance for the development of a comprehensive action plan of the Commission on Population and Development (POPCOM) to tackle EO 141. The purpose of the action plan is to 1) provide the roadmap of the government’s response to the various factors that have led to a high level of adolescent pregnancy, 2) identify interrelated causes of early pregnancies and the multidimensional intervention and strategies that will be done, and 3) contain the coordination plan and implementing mechanism of the plan among concerned stakeholders. To be able to do this, there are key strategic areas with specific action steps to implement the plan. Below are the outputs created as a result of the study:

• Comprehensive National Action Plan for Addressing Adolescent Pregnancy vetted by POPCOM and the HDPRC Cluster 
• Medium Term Costing for the Programs and Activities Detailed in the Action Plan
• Monitoring and Evaluation Framework for the Action Plan 
• Technical Assistance to POPCOM in setting up an M&E system for the Action Plan

Methods

The approach for this project is to create a working group consisting of key stakeholders to be the main actors in the creation of this action plan. After creating the working group, a situational analysis was to obtain an accurate picture of the state of adolescent pregnancies in the country, as well as the interventions already available to address the issue. Document and literature reviews were also done and supplemented with key informant interviews. Participants were youth groups and youth organizations. The data gathered from the consultations were used to streamline the Comprehensive Action Plan (CAP). 

This was followed by the creation of the action plan through brainstorming sessions with the working group. The ideas and conclusions from the brainstorming sessions were then expanded into specific action plans. The final comprehensive action plan for EO 141 was then drafted, taking into consideration the input from the stakeholders and the working group.