More Power to Her: How Empowering Girls Can End Child Marriage

"...ICRW set out to discover how programs in Bangladesh, Egypt, Ethiopia and India are working to empower both girls at risk of child marriage as well as already-married girls, and how empowerment leads to changes in knowledge, attitudes and practices."

This International Center for Research on Women (ICRW)'s report shows how and why investing in girls - in particular, focusing on approaches that revolve around the involvement of girls themselves - is critical to the global movement to end child marriage. It builds on ICRW's 5 evidence-based strategies articulated in 2011 (and summarised here - see Related Summaries, below) to delay or prevent child marriage: 1) Empower girls with information, skills, and support networks; 2) Provide economic support and incentives to girls and their families; 3) Educate and rally parents and community members; 4) Enhance girls' access to a high-quality education; and 5) Encourage supportive laws and policies.

ICRW explains that every year, more than 14 million girls are married before their 18th birthday. "Instead of playing and learning, child brides as young as 10 years old are often subjected to a life of isolation, poor health and abuse. Child marriage not only violates a girl's human rights, but it also stifles community, state and global development efforts to end poverty and gender inequality."

In order to understand how approaches that focused on girls themselves led to positive change, ICRW collaborated with 4 organisations to conduct case studies - with a focus on adolescent girls in economically poor, socially conservative settings:

1. Save the Children's Ishraq programme, which prepares girls in Upper Egypt for re-entry into formal schooling using group-based programming;
2. BRAC's Social and Financial Empowerment for Adolescents (SoFEA) programme, which provides social and economic development opportunities for girls in Bangladesh using peer-led, group-based programming;
3. Pathfinder International's PRACHAR, a comprehensive behaviour change programme in northern India, which included a 3-day reproductive health training for adolescent girls and boys; and
4. CARE Ethiopia's Towards Economic and Sexual/Reproductive Health for Adolescent Girls (TESFA) programme, which promoted sexual and reproductive health and economic empowerment for married adolescent girls in Amhara, Ethiopia using group-based programming and community mobilisation activities.

The paper outlines the components of "empowerment", which include: resources, such as information and social resources and agency, which involves self-efficacy (a conviction that one has the ability to make and act on strategic life choices) - both of which enable individuals to reach achievements they would not have otherwise been able to. An example of an achievement would be a girl completing school in an environment where she was not expected or supported to do so, but set out to do so despite this.

To carry out these case studies, ICRW collaborated with the implementing organisations, their local partners, and local research consultants to conduct the fieldwork. The research methods were qualitative, including: participatory focus group discussions; in-depth interviews with current and former programme participants, mothers of current and former participants (Ishraq, SoFEA, PRACHAR), husbands of participants (TESFA only); and key informant interviews with staff and other programme stakeholders. In 3 of the 4 case studies, ICRW also interviewed comparable non-participant groups. The paper then describes each of the 4 programmes in depth and then outlines 3 main pathways to delayed and improved marriage (see page 22 of the document for a model), which include:

1. Self-transformation via girl-focused programming that fosters participants to think critically, talk openly with peers, and have social support outside of the family. This entails:
   • Enhanced knowledge and skills through education about topics such as sexual and reproductive health, human rights, financial, literacy, life skills, and services and opportunities. This information is imparted in various ways, such as through training sessions by adult facilitators, peer education sessions, and curriculum-based instruction. "[E]xperiential learning through games, sports, debate and other forms of interaction are novel and effective learning strategies." Sample finding: "Most SoFEA participants recounted that learning about life skills was among the most important of the program components, and many further insisted that they intended to put this new knowledge to use, and now wished to avoid early marriage and pregnancy."
   • Access to social support through programmes exposing girls to peers, to role models, and to supportive adults, "which seems to enhance their confidence as well as their social capital". Sample finding: "Ishraq girls reported that through the program they had an opportunity to interact more with other girls their age and in the process, learned how to communicate and collaborate effectively. Participants discussed problems together, shared life experiences and relied on each other for advice - all of which equipped girls with the confidence that they could solve any challenges they face."
   • Increased self-awareness and self-efficacy, through which participants in the 4 programmes "developed a consciousness of their own individuality, desires, preferences, and rights - including those regarding the timing and circumstances of marriage."
   • Enhanced aspirations - e.g., "Ishraq girls came to prioritize education and expressed that they wanted to complete their schooling before becoming wives. In comparison, girls who had not participated in Ishraq had trouble answering questions related to their thoughts and dreams about their futures."
2. Enhanced opportunities and alternatives by programming that gives girls access to alternatives to child marriage through education and economic opportunities. To cite only one example, participants in the SoFEA programme reported that, as they gained financial and job skills through training, they also became more self-sufficient - described here as central to preventing early marriage and school dropout. SoFEA's financial literacy training, in particular, links self-sufficiency to decision-making. As one girl succinctly put it: "I earn, I decide."





3. Increased influence over others, which reflects the study's finding that "[t]hese programs, and the information, skills and confidence they impart, can also help girls increase their influence over their environment. The influence is both direct and indirect: Indirectly, girls' participation in these programs seems to enhance the way that they are perceived by others. As they begin to participate more in community activities, express themselves more effectively and demonstrate their newfound knowledge and skills, the way their families and communities perceive them can begin to shift. This shift can encourage others to see new possibilities for their daughters, wives, sisters and neighbors. And more directly, as girls find and use their voice - that is, as they develop the confidence to have and express an opinion - they can use it to convince others to support their goals, or can work with a group of people, by way of the social networks they build through these programs." For example, more than half of the PRACHAR adolescent reproductive training participants interviewed as part of the study said they had shared the information they learned in the training with others, including their friends, mothers, and, later, their husbands. Diffusion of these messages was also enhanced by the broader communications campaign, which included messages about child marriage and healthy timing and spacing of pregnancies conveyed through street theatre, wall paintings, puppet shows, and information, education, and communication (IEC) materials.

The report shares these and other main findings from these 4 case studies. One key note: "[I]ndividual pathways to empowerment are situated in a broader socio-ecological environment." One lesson learned shared in this section of the report: "Approaches that use broader community education and mobilization components, such as the PRACHAR program did in Bihar and the TESFA program in Amhara, are more likely to influence changes in norms than those that are only focused on girls themselves."

In conclusion, recommendations for the field on how to build on these approaches in terms of the core components of girl-focused empowerment programmes include:

• "Providing information that will build knowledge of one's self and environment, including sexual and reproductive health and rights;
• Enhancing girls' critical thinking, interpersonal and communication skills, and other practical skills that will benefit her and her households both in the short and long-term;
• Providing ongoing social support through group-based programming in safe spaces;
• Promoting girls' agency by emphasizing goal-setting and self-efficacy;
• Facilitating alternatives to marriage, especially school and livelihood opportunities;
• Integrating girl-focused activities with those that enhance communication with and support from her family and community; and
• Using gender-transformative approaches, which seek to reshape gender roles and promote more equitable relationships among women, men, boys and girls."