Introduction
The Asia-Pacific Regional Office United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA APRO) and the UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia (UNICEF ROSA) hosted a three-day expert group meeting to examine the evidence around programming and policies to end child marriage in South Asia. The meeting convened representatives from the hosting organizations, UNFPA, UNICEF, and UN Women country offices in South Asia and surrounding countries, experts from academia and representatives from organizations implementing programmes in the region. Presentations touched on key drivers of child marriage and promising interventions to address the practice in South Asia, based on available evaluation and research.
The meeting was largely successful in identifying key emerging issues and findings from new research on Introduction key factors and drivers for child marriage in South Asia as well as providing a platform for discussing novel programming and evaluation methods. Child marriage is a complex problem with many intersecting root causes and drivers. These drivers include: gender inequality; unequal power relations; poverty; conflict and shocks; geographic and structural factors; lack of access to education; lack of opportunities; barriers in access to sexual and reproductive rights; and barriers in access to health.
While much of the formative research on child marriage has focused on gender inequality, there remains much to be learned on other potential factors such as poverty and conflict. Overall, the evidence base is relatively low, but it is growing, with a few on going and recently completed rigorous evaluations of programming. Successful or promising interventions were presented in areas such as creating “capacity for choice.” BALIKA, a programme featuring adolescent girls’ clubs in Bangladesh, which recently completed an RCT, is a prime example, and many programmes include elements of empowering girls. Programmes that also include support and mobilization of communities to support empowerment of girls, such as initiatives by Promundo and World Vision to engage men and boys and Breakthrough’s work on inter-gender dialogues were highlighted. Successful or promising programmes that promote alternatives to child marriage, such as Save the Children’s livelihoods programmes in India and UNICEF’s home-based learning for girls in Afghanistan, were also discussed.
Research and interventions in emerging areas, such as economic drivers, shocks leading to child marriage, and child marriage in conflict were limited, but these issues are clearly of interest to participants and more research is needed to better understand them. A range of evaluation methods was presented and novel methods introduced and discussed. Presentations by CARE, FHI 360 and researchers from the University of Melbourne provided lessons on adaptive learning, evaluating collective impact of multi-stakeholder projects, and on incorporating learning into programming and evaluation.
Many questions remained on evaluation, however. Ultimately, the meeting did not have the scope to address the specifics of how to implement evaluations in programming, or come to a conclusion on how to balance the priorities of (1) building the evidence base, (2) implementing more programming, and (3) how to allocate funds between the two.
Discussion often returned to the idea of putting girls (or girls and boys) at the centre of programming on child marriage, but also the ethical responsibility that accompanies efforts to empower girls with aspirations and opportunities, negotiation skills, livelihoods skills, and education. Girl-centred programming was agreed to be the most successful intervention model. Participants also expressed concern, however, that such programming puts a significant burden on girls themselves to change norms and practices over which they have little control, and for which they may face significant backlash from their families and communities.
Political commitment and will to end child marriage is high. The inclusion of child marriage indicators in the SDGs and 2030 Agenda ensures that a system of accountability is being put in place for efforts to end child marriage. Regional commitments from SAARC and their support of national action plans to end child marriage represent important progress, though their overall effect at improving and harmonizing legal frameworks and investments in programming is still to be determined.
This meeting could not address all emerging areas of child marriage in the region. The situation of, and effects of, child marriage on child grooms remains largely unknown and ripe for more research. Although SAARC, national action plans, and some programs are working toward universal civil registration, how effective this will be at reducing child marriage requires further study. One key need that came out of the discussion was the lack of services and support for married girls, and more work is needed in this area.
The EGM on the Evidence Base for Accelerated Action to End Child Marriage answered many questions, but also raised many more. Evidence exists to support programming that puts girls at the centre, but evaluations to determine necessary components of programs, and how best to support participants to turn new skills and knowledge into action in their families and communities, are still necessary. Sustainability, scalability, and increasingly complex partnerships require innovative implementation and evaluation methods. All of this must be considered in the local context, with an eye toward historical trajectories and an understanding of the root causes, drivers, and assumptions underpinning political commitments and programming.
Ultimately, ending child marriage is part of a vision for a more just and equal society. We must continue to build the evidence base and how better to effectively use time, resources and people to better serve the millions of children - especially girls - at risk.