Child marriage (CM) violates human rights and has detrimental effects on the lives and welfare of girls. Although there are legal prohibitions against the marriage of underage girls, cultural and social norms often take precedence over these enforced laws. However, nonprofit foundations and organizations are working toward eradicating the practice worldwide.

Among them is CARE, a nongovernmental organization that started in 1945 after Arthur Ringland and Dr. Lincoln Clark advocated for the establishment of a nonprofit entity designed to transfer food packages from America to Europe during World War II (WWII). Throughout the years, CARE developed other aid initiatives serving crises in response to changing global political dynamics, including the Berlin Blockade and the Korean War.

In 1982, programs for women’s advancement were established in Bangladesh. Similarly, in 1993, CARE targeted its efforts into prioritizing the empowerment of girls and women to tackle poverty. Today, the nonprofit works in up to 109 countries worldwide and has become a global organization working toward gender justice, among other causes.

CARE’s Approach

CARE has approached the fight against child marriage through a primary program called “Tipping Point.” The initiative was implemented from 2013 to 2023, in Bangladesh and Nepal in South Asia and adapted in West Africa, Mali, Niger and Northern Syria in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The program consisted of three phases.

The first phase, which lasted for four years, prioritized innovations and learnings by engaging adolescents and parents in sessions in which open dialogue was encouraged. A central effort in this phase was to challenge deep rooted harmful social norms related to CM. During weekly sessions with separate groups of girls and boys, the kids were encouraged to self-reflect and think about love, their strengths and their dreams, as well as unequal social norms such as girls’ mobility, division of labor, restrictions on girls and risks of Child marriage.

Additionally, boys worked on reflecting on their masculinity. The sessions with the mothers were focused on reproductive health, family planning and also their own agency. Part of these sessions included discussions about their relationships with the children and generally building soft skills within connections at the family level.

Second Phase

The second phase, which lasted three years, invested in creating spaces for all community members to reflect on the unequal social norms. Suniti Neogy, CARE’s Senior Technical Advisor, says that work at the community level was also a crucial part of the program, working toward changing norms around issues that girls grappled with, such as mobility and access to education.

Sessions were also held with religious leaders, school teachers and government officials on reflections on issues of equality, workload, sexual health, virginity and honor, including the risks and benefits of CM. CARE’s fight against CM begins with opening the dialogue among and between the families and the girls. “If you work on girls’ or women’s empowerment, but you don’t work with the families or you don’t work with the community around them, it’s not easy to change that,” says Neogy.

The third and final phase of “Tipping Point,” also lasting three years, used experience from the previous two phases to advocate for policies addressing core factors propelling the practice of CM. The final phase also connected girls with women’s rights organizations so they could find support beyond the program.

Challenges

Neogy says a primary challenge when fighting CM is how “everybody thinks that we are there to stop Child Marriage.” According to her, the question “How many child marriages did you stop?” is frequently asked in government forums. “If her confidence is not built, if she’s not even able to speak for herself, if she continues to have no agency, it will not make a difference in her life if she’s married today or tomorrow,” stated Neogy.

According to Neogy, prevention is the only way to combat Child Marriage. She says the work has to be done with different sectors and different stakeholders so that “from all sides, it’s the same language that is spoken.”

CARE’s Director of “Tipping Point,” Serkadis Amassu, says that combating CM with law reforms has not worked. She states that the practice is highly intrinsic to social and gender norms, with some communities in South Asia believing that marrying girls will bring respect to the family and save them from potential disgrace if the girl becomes pregnant before marriage.

Girls in Action

Girls in Action is also a part of CARE’s gender transformative program. The model brought together girls from different communities in Bangladesh and encouraged them to identify an issue in their community that hindered them from achieving their dreams and aspirations.

Through surveys, the girls collected data regarding that issue within their communities and they then presented it to the parents and other community members. Neogy says activities like this encouraged the girls to speak out, negotiate with their parents and build a relationship between the girls.

Success Story

CARE’s “Tipping Point” program concluded in December of 2023. However, its accomplishments toward bettering the lives of girls and adolescents still linger in the communities. Data published by the organization shows a reduction of CM by 63% in girls who attended 36 to 40 “Tipping Point” sessions in Bangladesh, the country with the fourth most cases of CM worldwide.

Overall, CARE’s published results show a favorable shift in social norms concerning girls’ freedom and agency, as well as a betterment of collective community efforts to uphold girls’ rights over time across various sectors.

– Paula Pujol-Gibson
Photo: Flickr