Ending Child Marriage - Tanzania

Child marriage is rife in Tanzania. The Shinyanga region has one of the highest prevalence rates of child marriage in the country, where 59% of girls are married by the age of 18. Young girls are forced into marriage for a variety of reasons – both cultural and economic – that are deeply entrenched. Child marriage itself is a form of abuse but it also most often results in limited educational and economic outcomes, especially for women and girls, contributing to continued cycles of poverty. Married to much older men, these young girls never finish school, become mothers themselves well before adulthood, and suffer a life of poverty and abuse that often goes unreported and ignored by government authorities. Community-based organizations are uniquely suited to navigate the space between national and international child rights policies and local cultural practices. Our CBO grantee-partners in Shinyanga work with children and young women directly to ensure that they know their rights, are safe, and receive the emotional care and support they need to thrive. They also work with a range of other stakeholders – families, community members, local leaders, child protection committees, and government authorities – in the fight against child marriage. Our CBO grantee-partners also provide direct evidence to the national government of child marriage rates and effective child marriage prevention solutions. Our twelve CBO grantee-partners are deploying a variety of approaches to fight against child marriage. Some of these approaches include: economic strengthening for families through income-generating activities, livestock pass-on programs, psychosocial support for children rescued from child marriage, vocational or educational support for children rescued from or at risk of child marriage, skillful parenting assistance for families, awareness campaigns to shift community mindsets about child marriage through radio or drama, law enforcement interventions, training of local child protection committees, creation of child rights clubs in schools, and taining of teachers on child rights