Vision

The Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation, through its commitment to the improvement of educational attainment and Adolescent Reproductive Health, strives to promote a holistic approach to services and information for the youth of our nation. 

Mission

The Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation, through its commitment to the improvement of educational attainment and Adolescent Reproductive Health, strives to promote a holistic approach to services and information for the youth of our nation. 

Mandate

To provide continuing education for girls who dropped out of school due to pregnancy; and place them back into the formal school system after the birth of their babies.

Strategic Objectives

  1. To facilitate continuing education for adolescent mothers during their pregnancy.
  2. To aid the delay of a second pregnancy among adolescent mothers through sexual and reproductive health education.
  3. To facilitate the process of reintegration into the formal school system, or placement into another institution of learning.
  4. To provide the adolescent mothers with needed support services after they have returned to the formal school system, thereby enabling completion of their secondary education.
  5. To educate the young mothers, their parents, and the fathers of the babies, of their parenting responsibilities.
  6. To enable working parents to seek employment and attend to their jobs with the assurance of quality care for their children.
  7. To provide walk-ins with counselling and referral services.
  8. To intervene so as to delay pregnancies, and prohibit involvement in risky behaviour, among adolescents in Jamaica.
 

Overview

Established in 1978, the Women’s Centre Programme for Adolescent Mothers (PAM), began operating in response to Jamaica’s high level of teenage pregnancy, with the primary objective of providing continued education for pregnant girls.

This initiative targets girls 19 years and younger who are not allowed into the regular school setting during their pregnancy. The Programme also facilitates the reintegration of the school-aged mothers into the formal school system after the birth of their babies and provides contraceptive counselling aimed at minimizing the occurrence of a second early, unplanned pregnancy before adulthood.

The Programme for Adolescent Mothers gained foundation status in 1991and was subsequently named the Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation (WCJF). From 1978 to 1992, PAM was delivered from one location – 42 Trafalgar Road, Kingston. In 1992, a second location was established at 10 Patrick Road in Mandeville Manchester and as of September 2021, the WCJF operates island wide, serving adolescent mothers from 18 locations – ten (10) Main Centres and eight (8) Outreach Stations.

The WCJF model has been copied regionally and in parts of Africa. Over 50,000 adolescent mothers have been assisted through the PAM; the recurrence of a second pregnancy during adolescence is kept below two percent.