Availability of assets and livelihood strategies of school dropout teenage mothers in Adaklu District, Ghana

Abstract

The consequences associated with being a teenage mother can be overwhelming, especially when dreams of completing school and getting a lucrative job are shattered. Nevertheless, teenage mothers who are school dropouts gather resources available that aid them in securing livelihood activities for themselves. The aim of this research is to identify assets available to school dropout teenage mothers and how they are using these assets to secure some form of livelihood activities that help lessen the vulnerabilities associated with being a teenage mother. Data was collected from 45 teenage mothers and 17 opinion leaders in the Adaklu District of Ghana using in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. The findings revealed that although teenage mothers depend on various assets, natural assets (land) were the most asset for teenage mothers since most of them were into farming activities. Some of the teenage mothers indulged in off-farm activities like selling charcoal, gari processing, and deshelling of groundnuts to avoid falling deeper into livelihood insecurities. It was recommended that the district assembly should collaborate with NGOs and other institutions to train targeted teenage mothers in self-employable skills like soap making, bead making, and catering services to ease their financial stress. These measures might possibly pave the way for them to re-enter the schooling system.

Keywords:

• teenage mothers
• school dropout
• livelihood strategies
• assets
• availability

1. Introduction

Teenage motherhood has been a usually documented experience throughout history (Mollborn, 2017; Oyedele et al., 2014). About 16 million girls aged 15 to 19 years and two million girls under the age of 15 years give birth yearly (World Health Organization, 2019). Worldwide, one in five girls has given birth by the age of 18 years (World Health Organization, 2014). In the poorest regions of the world, this figure rises to over one in three girls, and 95% of these teenage births occur in low and middle countries (WHO, World Health Organization, 2019) such as Ghana.

Teenage motherhood is associated with a lot of consequences from the dimensions of health, as well as psychologically, socially, and educationally, among others. For example, teenage mothers face a variety of financial and social disadvantages as a result of being parents while, in some instances, still in school. They have a lower likelihood of graduating from middle school and enrolling in a post-secondary college. Also, they would have a harder time finding suitable jobs because of their insufficient or lack of educational accomplishment. Furthermore, they may live on a smaller income and are more likely to depend on government assistance, if any. And their guardians may abandon them and their children. At certain moments, their relationships are more likely to be dysfunctional, and they often have more children than they first planned (Jr, F & Brooks-Gunn, 2012; Van Vugt, Loeber & Pardini, 2016; Yussif et al., 2017; Undiyaundeye et al., 2015; World Health Organization, 2019). However, some studies have highlighted the positive aspects of being a teenage mother. For example, Anima, Kumi-Kyereme, Mariwah & Tampah-Naah (2022) and Dlamini (2016) revealed that teenage mothers had an increased sense of responsibility which served as motivation to fulfil personal aspirations. However, the literature goes on to emphasize the fact that teenage mothers are most vulnerable, even in the best of times regardless of cultural perceptions (whether teenage mothers are stigmatized or celebrated in a cultural context) (Wuermli, 2020).

Furthermore, various studies have documented many possible impacts of teenage motherhood as school dropouts (Berg & Nelson, 2016; Souza et al., 2018). For instance, Malahlela and Chireshe (2013) revealed that teenage motherhood has a negative or detrimental effect on school attendance and academic performance. This negative effect of school dropout coupled with other negative consequences like no one willing to help them to sail through life offers them no other option than to search for a livelihood activity as a means of daily sustenance. Venturing into a livelihood activity, more importantly for affected populations like teenage mothers, is their greatest recovery priority (Madianou et al., 2016). Hence, there is a need for teenage mothers to undertake a livelihood activity that will help them cater for themselves and their children as well.

Teenage motherhood has attracted the interest of researchers across the globe, especially in less privileged societies. This has led to the publications echoing the need for governments and other organisations to develop interventions to alleviate the plight of teenage mothers (Kachingwe et al., 2021; Leerlooijer et al., 2013; Morgan et al., 2022). To the best of our knowledge and upon related literature searches, there is a paucity of studies on the assets and livelihood strategies that teenage mothers initiate to sustain the lives of themselves and their children. It is in this realization that this study was conducted to explore assets available to teenage mothers, and livelihood strategies teenage mothers undertake to cater for themselves and their children. In Ghana, where teenage motherhood is pervasive, findings from this study will be relevant to policymakers to pay much attention to assets and activities of vulnerable populations such as teenage mothers in designing, developing and implementing interventions. These would contribute to attaining related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) centered on eliminating poverty, zero hunger, decent work, and economic growth; good health and well-being; quality education, and reduced inequalities in affected communities.

1.1. Livelihood framework

Chambers and Conway (1992) defined livelihood as the capabilities, assets, and activities required for a means of living. It assumes that asset status is fundamental to understanding the options open to an individual, the strategies that can be adopted to attain a livelihood, the outcomes aspired to, and the vulnerability context under which one operates (Ellis, 2003). This research adopts the Sustainable Livelihood Framework as adapted for migration and livelihoods by Tanle (2014) (Figure 1). Livelihood is owned, controlled, claimed, or by some other means accessed by households or individuals. There is a consensus in the livelihood discourse that the background characteristics of the populace influence the type of livelihood strategies they pursue. The main background characteristic of a teenage mother, in this study, is being a dropout from school (Ellis, 2000; Scoones, 1998). Assets may be described as stocks of capital that can be utilized directly or indirectly to generate the means of survival of households (Ellis, 2000). Livelihood assets have been categorized into five groups: natural, financial, human, social, and physical (DFID, 2001).

Figure 1. Sustainable Livelihood framework, Adapted from (Tanle, 2014).

The natural capital/assets include land, water, trees, wildlife, and biological resources that are utilized by people to generate a means of survival. Financial capital refers to stocks of money to which the household has access. This is likely to be savings, and access to credit in the form of loans (Ellis, 2000). Human capital at a household level is a product of the amount and quality of labour available with its education, skills, and health (DFID, 2001; Ellis, 2000). Social capital is considered a resource of last resort buffer that can help individuals cope with the shock and a safety net to ensure survival during periods of intensive insecurity (Moser, 1998; Ellis, 2000; & DFID, 2001). Physical capital comprises what is created by economic production processes. Examples are buildings, irrigation canals, roads, tools, and so on are physical assets (Ellis, 2000; Scoones, 1998).

The next component of the conceptual framework is livelihood strategies. In general, livelihood strategies have been identified as agricultural intensification or extensification, livelihood diversification including both paid employment and rural enterprises, and migration (Cahn, 2002; Carney, 1998; Ellis, 2002; Scoones, 1998). Generally, people tend to choose livelihood strategies that, in their estimation, provide them with the best or optimum livelihood outcomes.

The other component of the framework is institutional structures and processes. These serve as transforming factors and consist of the public, private, and traditional domains. They are basically internal or external laws, policies or regulations, norms, beliefs, and incentives that could have positive or adverse effects on livelihood strategies, livelihood outcomes, and well-being. Individuals’ livelihoods are strengthened by policies, institutions, and processes that operate from local to international and from public to private levels (Ellis, 2000).

In the context of being a teenage mother, the role played by key stakeholders like the central government, decentralized departments (District Assembly and the Ghana Volta River Authority), various NGOs and private organizations can significantly increase or decrease people’s well-being (Addo, 2008). Depending on their livelihood strategies or the vulnerability context in which they found themselves and their access to policies, processes, and institutions, people choose livelihood strategies that provide them with their ideal livelihood outcomes. The outcomes could be pessimistic or optimistic or both. One other external component of the framework, which may influence access to capital, livelihood strategies, and livelihood outcomes, is the element of vulnerability.

The sustainable livelihood framework holds the view that people operate within a vulnerable context. This context of vulnerability causes shocks like floods, droughts, cyclones, seasonality of prices and production, trends and changes in population and markets, and trade. These entire vulnerability contexts continue to chain people in the vicious cycle of poverty (Chambers & Conway, 1992). The ultimate component of the framework is livelihood outcomes which broadly comprise monetary and non-monetary elements. The outcomes could be positive, negative, or neutral.

2. Materials and methods

2.1. Study location

The study selected the Adaklu district (in the Volta Region) of Ghana to understand teenage mothers’ livelihood activities and why they choose to venture into such activities. Adaklu was chosen because the district falls within the Volta Region which had the highest rate of teenage motherhood (22.1%) in Ghana (Ghana Statistical Service, 2015). Also, Adaklu District recorded the highest percentage of teenage motherhood (23.2%) in the Volta region (Duodu, 2016). That is, one out of every four pregnant women who patronized health facilities in the Adaklu District was a teenager (Duodu, 2016). This makes Adaklu District very suitable for this study.

Adaklu District covers a total land area of 800.8 square kilometers (Ghana. Statistical Service. (2014, 2010)). The district is characterized by hills, mountains, lowlands, and generally rather undulating landscapes. The place has a very good temperature that supports plant growth. Food crops such as maize, sweet potato, tomato, yam, cassava, and groundnut do well under this climatic condition. The major vegetation cover in the district is Savannah woodland. However, few areas, mostly Adaklu-Aboadi and the riverbanks of Kalapa and Awator have semi-deciduous forests (Ghana. Statistical Service. (2014, 2010)). The localities in the district are completely rural with no urban settlements. It has a youthful population of which 36.4 percent are below 15 years with a small number of elderly persons (7.6%) who are 60 years and older (Ghana. Statistical Service. (2014, 2010)).

2.2. Cultural context

According to the Adaklu District Health Directorate records on maternal births, in 2014, childbirths were 401 with 81 teenage births representing 20.2%. In 2015, maternal births were 517 with 120 teenage births representing 23% and in 2016, there were 654 maternal births with 111 teenage births. Teenage mothers are neither celebrated nor stigmatized in the district. There are sexual reproductive projects and programs targeting health workers and teachers to train, educate and create awareness among teenagers who are not pregnant. Aside from reproductive health projects, some communities in the district fine both parties involved in teenage pregnancy at a cost of five hundred Ghana Cedis (1 US$ to 12.30 Cedis—January 2023) or ten bags of cement. All these programmes target teenagers who have not given birth leaving teenage mothers to fend for themselves.

2.3. Study design

A qualitative study design was applied in this study because it allowed participants (teenage mothers) to freely express their experiences with the livelihood strategies they are undertaking (Patton, 2002). It also allowed the researchers to describe and understand human behaviour and analyze social representations rather than just explaining them (Babbie & Mouton, 2001). The participants themselves shed light on the assets and livelihood strategies they have employed as teenage mothers. This made the researchers gain insight into the various livelihood activities taking place in their lives. Hence, phenomenology was employed to explore the teenage mothers’ lived experiences that were socially intricate (Creswell et al., 2007 & McMichael, 2013). Furthermore, the phenomenological research design was used because the researchers sought to understand lived experiences of teenage mothers and get a deeper insight into how they gather resources to provide a source of livelihood (to help in catering for their children) and for themselves after dropping out of school.

2.4. Recruitment of participants

The study participants were teenage mothers who were aged 13 and 19 years, had a live birth and were living in Adaklu District. Opinion leaders and stakeholders such as chiefs (leaders of a traditional community) or queen mothers (heads of the traditional council of women in a community), health providers, educationists, religious leaders, NGOs, and assembly members in the district were also included as key informants because they played key roles in ensuring livelihood security for the teenage mothers, through the implementation of policies and programmes.

Recruitment of teenage mothers for the study occurred at the community level. At the health facilities level, a nurse volunteer compiled a list of all teenage mothers who had visited the facility. From the list, mothers were traced who, in turn, through snowball sampling, helped locate other teenage mothers. This process was used at all the health facilities in the district namely: Adaklu-Helekpe Health Clinic, Adaklu-Waya Health Clinic, Sofa Health Clinic, Ahunda Health Clinic, Torda CHPS (Community Health Planning and Services) compound, Ahunda CHPS compound, and Kordiabe CHPS compound. Also, a list of the number of teenage mothers in the district was collected at the District Health Directorate to aid in tracing the teenage mothers. It also gave us ideas about communities with higher teenage mother rates.

The community recruitment was done through appropriate community gatekeepers or “mobilizers”. With their substantial local knowledge of the community, and based on the briefing of the researchers, the community mobilizers identified houses where potential study participants resided. To ensure that the study included teenage mothers who may not have attended health facilities, the facilitators specifically helped to identify such teenage mothers. The snowball approach was employed to expand the list of potential participants. The identified study participants were visited at home by the researchers. The home visits were done to help establish rapport and build confidence among parents, guardians, and the researchers. During the home visits, dates and venues for the in-depth interviews and focus group discussions were discussed.

2.5. Data collection procedures and tools

We interviewed 45 teenage mothers (thus, 30 in-depth interviews and two focused group discussions consisting of seven and eight teenage mothers respectively; Table 1). A large number of participants were interviewed because the researchers made sure that the voices of all teenage mothers in the different communities in the district would be heard. The purposive sampling technique was used to select key informants from the district. The following key informants were identified for the in-depth interviews: opinion leaders (a chief, a queen mother; two health providers; three educationists; one religious leader; one social worker; one girl child club patron; four assembly members; a director at the district health directorate; quality and promotion officer at the district health directorate; and an officer in charge of the girl child at the district health directorate). In all,17 key informants were interviewed.

Table 1. Characteristics and descriptions of participants

Participants Characteristics	IDI (description and numbers)	FGD (descriptions and numbers)
Age range	14 to 19	16 to 19
Marital Status	Married (1) Unmarried (29)	Married (0) Unmarried (15)
Dwelling Communities	Ablornu (3), Abuadi (3), Ahunda Kpodzi (2), Ahunda Boso (2), Dawunu (2), Gyavadome (2), Kpatove (3), Sofa (3), Torda (2), Twedeafenu (2), Waya (3), Wumenu (3)	Anfoe (8) Helekpe (7)
Religion	Christian (29) Muslim (1)	Christian (15)

Data was collected between February 2018 and April 2018. Data for this study was collected by applying the principles of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) using in-depth interviews (IDIs) and focus group discussions (FGDs). The interview guide was pilot tested by the researchers and two research assistants on 10 teenage mothers in the Deduako in the Cape Coast Municipality which has similar characteristics to the study area. Interview topics for both IDIs and FGDs included assets the teenage mother was depending on (Natural, physical, financial, human, and social), how these assets can be assessed in their various communities, livelihood strategies they are undertaking, and the role of stakeholders in ensuring livelihood security. Interviews were conducted by the two researchers and two research assistants in Ewe (the main language spoken in the study area) and translated into English. All IDIs were conducted in participants’ homes at their own convenience and all FGDs were conducted in convenient environments of the participants. To maintain confidentiality, pseudonyms were assigned to all participants (Berg, 2001). Interviews and discussions were digitally recorded, with permission from participants, and transcribed verbatim. IDIs lasted between 50 and 60 minutes while FGDs lasted between 70 and 120 minutes.

3. Data analysis

To describe the assets and livelihood strategies of teenage mothers, the researchers analysed the data using the IPA framework put forward by Charlick et al., 2016). The steps are (1) reading and re-reading; (2) initial noting; (3) developing emergent themes; (4) searching for connections across emergent themes; (5) moving to the next case; (6) looking for patterns across cases and (7) taking interpretations to deeper levels. All steps were done by the researchers.

The researchers read and re-read the transcript of the first participant without coding while listening to the audio recording, in order to immerse themselves in the data. After the transcripts had been read a few times, the researchers moved to the second step of initial noting; by examining the transcripts line by line while making notes of anything that was of interest, to have a better understanding of the assets the teenage mothers depended on and how these assets suggested the livelihood strategy they engaged in.

In the third step, the researchers developed emergent themes from the initial notes. The researchers tried to reduce the workload of the transcript by looking at the mapping, the relationships between the initial notes and grouped them into broader emergent themes. These emergent themes were further grouped into broader themes to represent types of assets, access to the assets, livelihood strategies, and specific livelihood activities.

In the fourth step, the researchers searched for relationships across the emergent themes by organizing the emergent themes into broader categories of bigger themes that explain teenage mothers’ livelihood strategies. Furthermore, the researchers moved to the next participant’s transcript and repeated the process for all the other participants. Because of the large number of transcripts, the Qualitative Miner Lite (Version 2.0) was used to aid the patterns between themes and the actual narrations of the participants. The main key themes that emerged were the assets (they depend on), livelihood activities (they engaged in), and migration or mobility (Table 2).

Table 2. Themes for the study

Bigger Themes	Theme	Categories
Assets	Natural	We farm on the land I gather firewood as a way of living I fetch water from the stream for construction works
	Social	My mother gives us money sometimes My baby father bought food for us The church gave me some gifts when I gave birth I am a member of the boboobo group I am the lead singer for the boboobo group in my community
Livelihood Activities	On-Farm	I plant cassava for people and in return, I take some food from their farm I deshell about 3 bowls of the groundnut every day for people I peel cassava for money I planted maize for myself
	Off-Farm	I gather firewood and sell it to the banku seller I sell coconut toffees at the entrance of my former school I sell charcoal I sell provisions such as tin tomatoes I braid hair for money
Migration/Mobility	Nearby Towns and Cities	Migration from the village is for the lucky ones Teenage mothers who have rich uncles are the ones who travel to Accra or Ho I stay with my aunty at Ho. I help her take care of her baby

3.1. Ethical considerations

Various ethical issues were considered before, during, and after the data collection exercise. First, ethical clearance was sought from the Institutional Review Board of the University of Cape Coast (with ID number UCCIRB/CHLS/2017/30). At any first point of entry into a community, our intentions were communicated to an assembly member or a unit committee member (where assembly members are not available) of the community who in turn introduced us to the chief of the community. On another level, it was ensured that participation was voluntary and that participants were given the option to withdraw at any time. Their confidentiality was also assured. All responses were anonymized before analysis, and particular care was taken not to reveal any potential of identifying details of places, practices, or even responses.

4. Results

4.1. Types of assets

Teenage mothers depended on several assets which led to the provision of their livelihood activities. These are natural and social assets. Natural asset

Land was one of the most important assets that teenage mothers were depending on because of the agricultural nature of the district. The land was used for both cash and peasant farming. Crops grown on the land were mainly maize, cassava, yam, and vegetables. Most teenage mothers depended on the land because they did not have any employable skills or any educational qualifications which would enable them to get into formal sectors of the economy. Hence, they engaged in farming. An elderly opinion leader narrated:

Teenage mothers mostly depend on the land to survive; they farm to get their food. Most of them are dropouts from schools so they solely depend on the land for survival. They grow cassava and some maize on the land. (46-year-old female opinion leader).

In support to the previous narration, a teenage mother said:

I farm on a small piece of land. I grow maize, cassava on that land. (19-year-old teenage mother)

Because most of the teenage mothers depended on the land as a way of surviving, this study further explored how land is owned and used in the district. Evidence showed that lands were owned by clans and managed by clan heads. Land is not sold to individuals but rather members of the clan can request a portion of the land to farm. Other people who are not clan members can rent the land or they can farm and share their yields with some other clan members. One of the opinion leaders summarised it as:

It is very easy for a teenage mother who is a native of this district to acquire land and farm. Land in this district is owned by clans and is being managed by the clan head. These lands are shared among family members to farm on. One person cannot hijack a whole clan’s family land. Apart from season-to-season farming activities, a clan member does not have the right to sell any portion of the land unless this is being done by the whole clan members (36-year-old male opinion leader)

A teenage mother affirmatively supported the assertion on land ownership as she indicated:

Oh, we are blessed here; here is not like Accra (the capital city of Ghana) where access to land is difficult to acquire. The land is available for anyone who wants to farm. We do not have problems when it comes to land. In short, access to land is not difficult at all (18-year-old teenage mother).

Though access to land was not difficult in the various communities, it was difficult for the teenage mothers in the district who were not natives, these were migrants whose parents do not hail from the district. These migrant teenage mothers need to pay, hire, rent the land or work with a native on his or her farm for a very long time before they can have access to any portion of land to farm on. Because non-native teenage mothers do not have enough money to rent the land, most of them are not engaged in any activity that may involve the use of land. This was how one teenager narrated her ordeal:

The land I used to farm on belongs to a clan member. My mother paid for the rental of the farmland for a year. When the time was due, I couldn’t pay because I did not have enough money to pay. Hence the land has been taken away from me (19-year-old-teenage mother).

However, some of these migrant teenage mothers effortlessly worked on the farms of clan members for about two years which secured them some piece of land to farm. These teenage mothers worked for either a member of the community, their mother-in-law or anyone who is ready to accommodate them. A teenage mother narrated:

The man who impregnated me is from this district, but I am not. I stay with my mother-in-law. I came here when I got pregnant. It was difficult finding land to farm. I worked with my mother-in-law on her land for two years before she gave me one acre of her land to me. (A-19-year-old teenage mother).

It was also revealed that forest reserves were one prominent natural asset the teenage mothers who were school dropouts relied on. Forest reserves were mainly in the form of wood or trees. Teenage mothers used wood or dried tree branches as a form of fuelwood and charcoal either for their day-to-day activities or for commercial purposes.

4.2. Social asset

Teenage mothers receive a lot of support from these social networks ranging from emotional and psychological support, and food items from people in their social network. In this regard, the study revealed that most of the participants received assistance from various social groups. Examples included family, teachers and religious associations, friends, community members, health workers, government, and non-governmental organisations. This is illustrated in some of their interviews below:

I am staying with my grandmother now. She is just a petty trader. But she makes sure that I get something to eat in order to breastfeed my son. Though she was not happy that I got pregnant, she is trying for us (19-year-old teenage mother).

A distressed teenage mother indicated: I was devastated when I gave birth. Everything was going against me. But my youth leader encouraged me never to give up. The church provided me with counseling, and they guided my path. They also gave me gifts. (16-year-old teenage mother).

There is one social group in the various communities in the district known as the Boboobor Dance Ensemble (this is a traditional music and dance group). The groups sing and dance at various social gatherings in their individual communities. Teenage mothers joined this group as a source of entertainment for themselves. This is what one teenage mother said:

I am part of the traditional dance ensemble in my area. We go and dance at marriage ceremonies, funerals, festivals, and festive periods. And there are other teenage mothers who are part of the group. (18-year-old teenage mother).

4.3. Livelihood activities of teenage mothers

It is based on the assets available to teenage mothers that they construct and contrive a living. The study found that teenage mothers in their respective communities engage in different livelihood activities to survive. These activities mostly depended on their location in the district and the type of soil available to them. This issue of location and type of soil made livelihood activities community specific. However, the most common activities that the teenage mothers were engaged in the district can be categorized as on-farm activities and off-farm activities.

4.4. On-farm activities

Almost all the school dropout teenage mothers interviewed indulge in one or two agricultural activities, especially farming as a way of survival. Agricultural activities included mixed farming, planting, and harvesting for others. This is how some teenage mothers explained the situation:

The only work available here is farming. If you want to sell, it is not like selling in Accra people will patronize. For example, if you cook even rice to sell, they won’t patronize it. That is the more reason why I am farming. (17-year-old teenage mother)

I help people during harvesting, and they give me some of whatever crop we harvested in return. This is what my child and I feed on. Maybe if I harvest corn or beans for somebody, I also take some for myself. (16-year-old teenage mother)

The study revealed that communities far away from the regional capital but closer to the district capital (examples are Anfoe, Waya, Kpodgi, and Sofa) were the ones engaging in on-farm activities like farming for themselves and harvesting for other people. These teenage mothers did not have many options to choose from because their locational environment could not provide much for them. These towns were far from the major cities and their roads were deplorable hence low patronage for any other activity except farming.

4.5. Off-farm activities

The study also realised that few of the teenage mothers were trying to broaden their livelihood activities to generate additional income to ensure livelihood security, through off-farm activities. Off-farm activities like gari processing, charcoal burning, de-shelling of groundnut, fetching water for construction works or for some well-to-do people in the community, petty trading, hairdressing, and washing of clothes were common activities for some teenage mothers. Narratives of some of the teenage mothers illustrate the assertions:

I have been helping people to de-shell groundnuts. If I shell one bowl, I am paid 5 Ghana Cedis. But I can de-shell just 2 bowls within a day (19-year-old teenage mother).

Another teenage mother said:

I process my mother’s gari, and when we are done, she divides her profit into three portions and gives me one portion of the profit for my up-keep (18-year-old-teenage mother).

The reasons for indulging in off-farm activities for some of the teenage mothers were to ensure livelihood security because on-farm activities in the Adaklu district were highly unsecured. Insecurities were a result of the high cost of production input, low productivity output, low product sales due to bad roads, over-dependence on rain-fed agriculture, teenage mothers not having enough strength for farming, and indiscriminate destruction of farms by cattle. This was a challenge for some of the teenage mothers who were into agricultural activities. Some of them narrated their stories as:

First, I did not sell the maize I planted because the prices of the crop at the time of harvest were very low (like 10 Cedis) [1 US Dollar to 7.95 GH Cedis in 2022]. This 10 Cedis cannot solve my problems, so I just kept the maize for our daily food instead of selling them at lower prices and later buying them at higher prices during the off-season. I am still depending on maize for food. If I think about selling my maize at 10 Cedis and later go and buy that same maize at about 100 Cedis then it was better, I keep the maize for future use. (19-year-old teenage mother)

Similarly, another teenage mother recounted:

Now, because of the menace of the Fulani herdsmen within the various communities, there are cattle all over. They come and destroy all the crops we have planted on our farms. The little stream we fetch to water our vegetables too; they also compete with us. This makes farming activities unattractive. (18- year-old teenage mother)

It was noted that the off-farm activities of teenage mothers vary across the district. It was revealed that teenage mothers in the interior (thus around Waya, Sofa, Anfoe, and Kpodgi) engaged in domestic works like washing clothes (mostly for the government workers) and fetching water for construction works (since the district is newly created there was a lot of construction works going on).

On the other hand, those around the Regional Capital, especially along the Aflao road engage more in the charcoal or fuelwood business because their location along a major road attracts a lot of buyers for their product. Also, it was revealed that those in the fuelwood business do it alone while those into charcoal burning get a helping hand from either an elder sibling or their partner (father of their child). These scenarios were observed in some communities such as Wunume, Twefeadunu, and Tsrefe. One of the teenage mothers narrated her story as follows:

We sell firewood and charcoal by the roadside. Buyers with big trucks from the city come and purchase our fuelwood and charcoal. This is what we depend on for a living. We are still teenagers, but we can cut some wood and use it for charcoal. (17-year-old teenage mother, focused group discussions)

Teenage mothers in communities closer to the Regional Capital are also involved in petty trading because of easy access to a ready market. They trade in second-hand clothing, toffees, biscuits, and farm products. Mostly, they deal in items that they term “movable goods”. This means that they are goods that community members buy regularly. This is how one of the teenage mothers interviewed indicated:

I am selling these items because they are very movable, and people need them daily. Hence, they can buy them quickly then I can restock again. (19-year-old teenage mother)

Although the petty trading business was one of the most enjoyable livelihood activities for teenage mothers, it also came with its own challenges. These challenges stem from buying on credit and maybe community members not patronizing because they feel the prices are high. Some of the challenges are narrated below:

Though selling second clothing earns money, I sometimes run at a loss because people buy the goods on credit and most of them do not pay. It even becomes difficult to account for the money I used to start the business. (A-17-year-old teenage mother)

This was supported by an opinion leader:

Trading activity has not been sustainable for some teenage mothers. They borrow money or go for the items to sell on credit bases. Most of them are not able to restock because they are very bad at keeping stock and accounts. For instance, one of them went to borrow eggs from someone in Ho market and came and sold it here. She could not gather the money and as such, she cannot go back for the eggs again, so it is not sustainable. (A-70-Year-old queen mother).

4.6. Migration/mobility

Apart from on-farm and off-farm activities, there were other teenage mothers who also sought to migrate or move to the regional capital and other bigger towns around to seek greener pastures. Some of them went into petty trading, hairdressing, and selling food because they felt there were more opportunities in the city than in the rural areas. Migration as a livelihood strategy was found among a handful of teenage mothers who had some relations in the city that were willing to accommodate them. Although most of the teenage mothers interviewed wished they could travel out of their communities, there were no known relatives that could provide support. Migrating without any known relative in the destination was too risky and prevented them from embarking on such an option. This was how one fortunate teenage mother narrated her story:

Things were very tough in the village when I gave birth. My aunty knew a woman who sells at Ho and was desperately looking for someone to stay with. I went to stay with her at Ho. Now, she has opened another shop that I manage for her. I came to visit my mother because it is Easter season. (19-year-old teenage mother)

5. Discussions

In the study, a lot of assets were discovered but the land came out strongly since most of the teenage mothers were into on-farm activities. The reason why many of them indulged in on-farm activities was that the district is made up of rural communities and research has shown that most rural communities depend on land for survival (Kidido & Bugri, 2020; Ryden, 2012).

The land was owned by clans and managed by clan heads in this study area and the lands were accessible through the clan heads. Likewise, a study done by Zippay (1995) found that land could be accessed by clan heads who are allodial landowners of the community or the family. Secure access to land (natural capital) reduces vulnerability to hunger and poverty. Access to land was deemed possible by the rules and regulations made by the landlords in the various communities. This assertion confirms the livelihood framework (Tanle, 2014) which suggests that policies, processes, and institutions influence livelihood strategies or the vulnerability context in which people will find themselves.

One most important asset that influences the kind of livelihood an individual will employ was the amount of human capital available to these teenage mothers. The study reveals that although they were dropouts from school, they also did not have any form of formal training in any employable skills. Those who even had those skills did not acquire them through any training. Likewise, (Chigona & Chetty, 2008; Dench et al., 2007; Adangabe’s, 2020; Williams, 2019) noted that most teenage mothers lack employable skills and this goes on to restrict the livelihood they undertake.

Furthermore, the main livelihood activities of the teenage mothers were categorized into on-farm, and off-farm activities. This finding confirms Carney (1998) that livelihood strategies that are available to rural folks in developing countries are: both agricultural and non-agricultural activities. Though the teenage mothers were undertaking their livelihood activities, there were other factors that did not make their livelihoods safer and secure. The factors were diverse for both the on-farm and off-farm activities. Factors such as cost of production input, low productivity output, low product sales due to bad roads, over-dependence on rain-fed agriculture, insufficient strength for farming, and indiscriminate destruction of farms by cattle act as stressors to achieving a sustainable livelihood.

Consequently, there were some teenage mothers who resorted to migration as their form of livelihood strategy. This was another way to reduce the insecurities of their livelihoods. Studies have revealed that migration plays a crucial role in diminishing vulnerability and lessening poverty in developing countries (De-Haan, 1999). Another study also revealed that a lot of teenagers and youth migrate from rural areas to urban areas for attractive employment opportunities (Balodi, Vati, Bisht & Ghatak, 2016).

6. Strengths and weakness

Using qualitative methodology helped in providing more detailed information about the livelihood activities, challenges and how stakeholders are not helping in securing the teenage mothers’ livelihoods. However, a weakness of this study is its inability to further explore why stakeholders were not doing enough to secure livelihood activities for teenage mothers who were school dropouts.

7. Conclusions

Teenage mothers depend on natural and social capital in choosing the kind of livelihood activities to undertake. Among these two assets, natural asset (Land) is the most valuable that teenage mothers depend on. These assets enable teenage mothers to indulge in on-farm activities (growing cassava, maize, planting for others), and off-farm activities (trading activities like selling second-hand goods, charcoal, gari processing activities, fetching of water for construction work). Migration is also embarked on as a livelihood strategy for teenage mothers who have relatives in nearby (bigger) communities.

7.1. Policy implication

The results of the study can be used by the District Assembly in Adaklu in collaboration with other government officials, NGOs, and traditional societies to organize some employable skills training for some of the teenage mothers in the district. Employable skills training such as soap making, bead making, and catering services could help curb some of the insecurities that on-farm activities presented to teenage mothers. Again, National Communication for Civic Education (NCCE), NGOs, and the District Assembly should educate locals, especially other teenage mothers who have been school dropouts on the need to look for an employable skill to indulge in. Undertaking these kinds of employable skills helps them secure some finances which they can use to take care of themselves and their children. This will also lessen the poverty gap in which most teenage mothers find themselves.

Authors’ contributions

PAA drafted the concept paper. PAA and AMT designed the study, developed the study’s tools, and participated in data collection and data analysis. Both authors iteratively wrote and reviewed the manuscript. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript before submission.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Informed consent was obtained from the participants by agreeing orally to participate in the study.

Availability of data and material

The datasets used and/or analysed during this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Acknowledgements

We are thankful to all the teenage mothers who participated in this study. We are equally grateful to the local authorities at Adaklu who graciously accepted and allowed us into their community to conduct this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.