Yanga Dipa, from South Africa, is currently completing her master’s degree in human rights law at the University of Cape Town (UCT).
In 2021, she completed her Bachelor of Law degree and began working for HEYBABY , a research study led by UCT’s Centre for Social Science Research and the Accelerate Research Hub focused on adolescent mothers and their children. Engaging with hundreds of young mothers, Yanga gained insights into their lives, the barriers that they and their children face, and factors that inspire resilience. In 2023, she then formed part of the Khanyisa Ngemfundo study, which engaged with rural and peri-urban secondary schools in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa to develop and launch a toolkit to assist educators in supporting the return and retention of pregnant and mothering learners in secondary schools.
Continuing her work in research and advocacy for the support of adolescent mothers’ education in sub-Saharan Africa, in her postgraduate legal studies Yanga has begun exploring these issues through legal research with a policy and rights perspective. She hopes to make a case for much-needed, improved state intervention providing structural, social and financial support to adolescent mothers to complete their schooling and achieve a greater quality of life for themselves and their children. Ultimately, her work would help end cycles of poverty. Her studies are the foundation for what she hopes will be a life-long career championing the rights of children and young women.
