1. Ending Child Marriage in Ethiopia Shaping/redefining communication for development actions based on lessons learned from global and Ethiopian evidence
Mariana Muzzi, UNICEF Ethiopia
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 8-10 February 2016
Social and Behavior Change Communication Summit

2. Solutions to End Child Marriage
The 2011 International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) study ‘Solutions to End Child Marriage – What the evidence Shows’ was a landmark publication towards finding the answer to this question. The study was based on the analysis of 23 documented and evaluated programmes which attempted to measure change in child marriage-related behaviours, knowledge, or attitudes among relevant stakeholders. These programmes were implemented between 1973 and 2009, with several of the programs continuing through the present, and evaluations were published between 1991 and Findings of this study indicate that the following five strategies/approaches are ‘promising’ and can be considered possible ‘solutions’ to ending child marriage:
Empowering girls with information, skills, and support networks
Educating and mobilizing parents and community members
Enhancing the accessibility and quality of formal schooling for girls
Offering economic support and incentives for girls and their families
Fostering an enabling legal and policy framework

3. Who?

4. Girls not Brides – Theory of Change

5. UNICEF – Theory of Change

6. UNICEF – Theory of Change

7. UNICEF-UNFPA Global Programme to Accelerate Action to End Child Marriage
1: Adolescent girls express and exercise their choice
2: Households & communities invest & support adolescent girls
3: Service delivery for adolescent girls
4: Laws + policies + enforcement + resources = protect and promote adolescent girls‘ rights
5: Data + evidence = better policies & programmes + progress tracking + document lessons
Outcome 1: Adolescent girls at risk of and affected by child marriage are better able to express and exercise their choices
Outcome 2: Households demonstrate positive attitudes and behaviours towards investing in and supporting adolescent girls
Outcome 3: Relevant sectoral systems deliver quality and cost-effective services to meet the needs of adolescent girls
Outcome 4: National laws, policy frameworks and mechanisms to protect and promote adolescent girls' rights are in line with international standards and are properly resourced
Outcome 5: Government(s) and partners within and across countries support the generation and use of robust data and evidence to inform policy and programming, track progress and document lessons

8. Evidence / Research Haryana India
In India, findings from the assessment of the Government of the State of Haryana, India implemented conditional cash transfer programme called ‘Apni Beti Apna Dhan’ or “Our Daughter, Our Wealth’ indicate that cash transfers had no effect on the age of marriage and only a marginal effect on keeping girls in school up until the 8th grade. Also, girls enrolled in the scheme were also more likely to get married at 18 with parents using the money for dowry, highlighting that financial incentives alone cannot shift entrenched gender norms. “We find that the CCT as designed was insufficient to change these prevailing gender roles and expectations; in fact, the program may even have reinforced notions that girls are a burden, as the money was often seen as intended to offset the costs of getting them married.”
IMPACCT – The Impact on Marriage: Program Assessment of Conditional Cash Transfers looked at the effectiveness of providing cash incentives to families in Haryana, India, under the condition that their daughters remained unmarried until the age of 18.

9. Evidence / Research
In Ethiopia, preliminary findings from the National Alliance to End Child marriage-commissioned, ODI-conducted ‘The patterning and drivers of child marriage in Ethiopia’s hotspot districts’ indicates likewise that economic poverty does not emerge as a strong driver of child marriage. In some cases, girls from ‘relatively better-off families’ who are especially likely ‘to marry at an early age’, often as a way to allow families to keep or expand their land holdings.
Regarding the economic argument, findings of these studies may partially challenge one of the five ‘solutions’ suggested in the ICRW 2011 study, namely: ‘offering economic support and incentives for girls and their families’. The findings of these studies are very important for future design of the mix of interventions to address child marriage in Ethiopia. While we surely cannot dismiss the economic component as a possible factor in perpetuation child marriage and the low value of girls, nor do we wish to categorically dismiss CCTs, we may wish to invest more heavily in testing and documenting sets of interventions that take into greater consideration the social nature of the practice and in identifying and supporting the social dynamics that favour its demise. Possibly CCTs could play a more positive role as part of a mix of interventions that derives from a more deliberate application of a social norms perspective.
Other preliminary findings of this ODI-conducted research include:
Girls’ ‘agency’ - Adolescent decision-making is a double-edged sword: in some locales it is allowing girls to choose education over marriage, but in others it is facilitating girls to marry their ‘first love’. Girls themselves are sometimes complicit in child marriage. In some cases, they wish to avoid the stigma directed at ‘mature’, unmarried girls and elect to marry as children solely to avoid being the subject of community gossip or insulted as qomoqär (left standing) or haftuu (unwanted). In other cases, most notably across Oromia, girls are ‘choosing’ to marry, sometimes very early, because they believe themselves in love, want the prestige of being a married woman, or wish to assert their independence from their parents.
Role of religious leaders’ as male agents of change: Whilst programmes which involve clergy/religious leaders as male role models have proven to be effective and are considered ‘good practice’, traditional and religious leaders also perpetuate the prevailing social norm that marriages should be arranged before or soon after puberty: Parents’ fear of girls’ emergent sexuality, which in many cases is supported by both religious tradition and religious leaders, has traditionally encouraged them to arrange child marriage either before or soon after puberty. This timing ensures girls will not sully family honour, but also – and critically from their parents’ perspective – protects them from damaging their chances of attracting a good husband.’ Also, findings reveal that some clergy themselves marry girls below age 18 and many/most bless/celebrate marriages of girls below age 18.
In sum, the findings of the Ethiopia National Alliance against Child Marriage commissioned ODI-conducted mapping, one of the main outcomes, is that poverty is not necessarily one of the main drivers of child marriage, but rather the lack of alternatives. However, it’s not all so simple, as recent Population Council study findings (2015) from a USAID-funded project, the Building an Evidence Base to Delay Child Marriage,” which evaluated the effectiveness of four strategies to delay the age at marriage among girls aged 12–17 in parts of Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Burkina Faso with a high prevalence of child marriage, indicate that in Ethiopia, it was possible to delay child marriage with the following interventions, which include a mix of economic support and C4D strategies:
In communities where girls were offered educational support, girls 12–14 were 94% less likely to be married at endline than were girls in that age range at baseline (adjusted odds ratio 0.06, 95% confidence interval 0.01–0.51).
In communities where girls were offered two chickens for every year they remained unmarried and in school, girls aged 15–17 were half as likely to be married at endline than were girls in that age range at baseline (adjusted odds ratio 0.50, 95% confidence interval 0.29–0.83).
In communities that were engaged in conversations about the value of educating girls and the harms of child marriage, girls 12–14 were two-thirds less likely to be married at endline than were girls in that age range at baseline (adjusted odds ratio 0.37, 95% confidence interval 0.18–0.76).
In communities where all the strategies were employed, girls 15–17 were two-thirds less likely to be married at endline than were girls in that age range at baseline (adjusted odds ratio 0.32, 95% confidence interval 0.19–0.55).

10. Education solutions?
1ary: 12 million children enrolled in 30,534 schools w/ 335,109 teachers
2ary: 0.5 million (less than 5%) enrolled in 1,912 schools w/ 65, 116 teachers)
37% of female in primary school
15% of female teachers in secondary school
Now, the question is how can we implement C4D interventions on valuing girls’ education, if (i) Parents don’t see opportunities for educated girls (why will I send my girl to school if there are no jobs for her?) and (ii) Secondary schools are rare to come by?
So we should discuss some of the ‘promising’ solutions, both related to Education, namely: (1) ensuring transition from primary to secondary school and (2) increasing the number of female teachers. The first one despite being pretty clear cut, is however costly. The second complementary strategy of increasing female teachers, aims at addressing some of the root causes of child marriage, pertaining to parents/communities/families not valuing girls’ education, as they see girls as either mothers or child bearers. Let me explain the rationale: increasing number of female teachers, shows/demonstrates that girls can have an alternative to being mother or child bearer (i.e. having a job). In rural contexts where there are few paid jobs (private sector jobs as few and far between especially in contexts of subsistence economy), government jobs although not well paid, are the few jobs available. From the few jobs available in rural contexts – police, teacher, health worker and engineer for road or water and sanitation facility construction – teacher and health workers are the ones that are ‘easier’ for parents/communities to ‘accept’ for their girls, plus there are a potentially a large number of positions. In addition, once there are more female teachers on board, then it would be easier to get more women into the other existing jobs, as potentially the social norm of only seeing girls as wives/mothers/child bearers will have shifted. And more so, in contexts where school related gender-based violence is present, higher number of female teachers - especially in secondary school setting, reduces the incidence of this type of violence.
By focusing on increasing female teachers and supporting girl’s completion of primary school (or more years of schooling) I believe we could play a catalytic role in changing the perception of valuing girls’ education by all, and potentially this could contribute to ending child marriage.
Applied to the UNICEF Ethiopia context, these results indicate the need for us to re-align our UNICEF efforts to support Education interventions, and/or advocate for increased Government expenditure or development partners’ investment in Education, to achieve:
Increased girls’ completion of primary school and transition into secondary school. Gender disparities are not significant throughout the country. But one of the main issue hampering girls’ (and boys’) access to education is availability of the service. As per EMIS MoE data, approx. 12 million enrol in primary school (1st cycle / grades 1-4), but less than half of these - only 5.5 million enrol in primary school (2nd cycle / grades 5-8). The situation becomes even more acute when transitioning into secondary education, as only roughly half a million children are enrolled in secondary schooling (1st cycle/grades 9-10), which is roughly 5% of the children that initially enrolled in primary school. Why? Because there are few secondary school teachers and there are few secondary school facilities. In Ethiopia, whilst there are 30,534 primary schools, and only 1,912 secondary schools. Activities to address this may include: ‘traditional activities’ of ensuring secondary schools actually exist with teachers who are capable of teaching present and more ‘innovative’ approaches of upgrading 25% of primary school facilities to include grades 9 and 10 and looking into distance learning blended options of learning, using primary school facilities as a learning hub.
Increasing no. of female teachers. Nationally, 37% of teachers are female in primary schools, dropping to 15% in secondary school classrooms. Activities to this effect could include the above mentioned of increasing girls’ completion of primary and secondary school (otherwise we won’t have enough educated girls to become teachers in the first place) and advocacy to institutionalize a quota system (positive discrimination) with targets by year to progressively reach parity of female and male teachers in 5-10 years’ time. This solution would most likely be need to be coupled with support to housing for female teachers in remote areas, etc. We would need to assess what would be UNICEF’s value added, possibly advocacy for targets on gender parity.

11. Communication solutions?
Mass media:
18% watch TV once a week
30% listen to radio at least once a week
Non mass-media:
52% and 36% of pop. in rural and urban areas respectively, get information from family and friends.
More trust on religious leaders & health workers than mass media
In Ethiopia, official EDHS 2011 data on exposure to mass media indicates that nationally on average, 18% of men & women watch television at least once a week and 30% of men & women listen to radio at least once a week. It is important, to note that there is a gender gap in terms of radio and TV listener/viewership, with men both listening to radio and watching TV more than women, which is more pronounced in terms of radio listenership. An audience survey conducted in 2011, also indicates that radio is perceived as most accessible and reliable tool information gathering across the country, and that Ethiopians use radio as their primary source for receiving news and information. Urban areas have the highest percentage of TV viewers with almost double the number of audiences in urban areas watching television daily than those living in rural communities. Between 2005 and 2010 internet users grew by 172%, however the penetration rate is still very low at 4% and is mainly urban. Mobile phones provide the biggest percentage of internet uses. 38.8% of the population is on mobile, hence digital media such as Bulk SMS messages have a significant reach.
Non mass media sources of information remain very popular among both rural and urban communities, 52% from rural areas and 36% in urban areas get information from family and friends. Non mass media sources of information include word of mouth, working with community influencers and working through established community networks/platforms, such as Equb and Edir, women development armies, health development armies, parent-teacher associations, and health extension workers. Another strong media or platform present in different parts of Ethiopia are the traditional and religious media which have direct interaction and acceptance by the community. These include; Mesjids, churches, Dago and ‘Mebloe’ in Afar, religious ceremonies like ‘Senbete’.

12. Dilemma/Questions
Amongst the identified/evaluated global solutions to end child marriage how much of the focus should be on C4D/social and behavioural change communication vs. for instance service delivery? What’s the balance?
Amongst communication initiatives in place, are we implementing the ‘right’ ones? How do we measure and know we are doing the ‘right’ thing?
Whose behaviours would we like/need to influence to increase our results for girls and to end child marriage? [Religious leaders? Girls?]

13. Thank you!!