MEDIA TREND ANALYSIS 2008-2013 A Report by CCMC, Communications Consortium Media Center for The Ford Foundation, January 2014

•  For the quantitative reports in this analysis, the Who, What, Where and When sections, CCMC used the LexisNexis’ global news database of English language media, more than 2,600 major daily newspapers, wire services and transcripts of broadcast outlets and website platforms from around the world. This was done to measure informative articles with the most reach and saliency.

•  The primary search term was “early or child” marriage as the constant across the various quantitative reports. Unless otherwise noted, we limited the search to those stories of 50 words or more. 2013 searches included data from January 1 to December 31 2013.

•  We indexed the articles through a number of indicators including pre-defined groups, issues, countries and year. A special feature in Lexis called Result Group Search determined the base-line list of spokespeople with select names added to this group. This search was limited to stories with 250 words or more with a significantly smaller base-line than those in other reports.

•  For the qualitative reports and content analysis, the How and Why sections, CCMC staff analyzed 230 random news stories of over 750 words from 2013 to provide a snapshot of coverage. These stories were from both LexisNexis and a regular Google featured search term, child marriage.

FINDINGS: WHO ~ WHAT ~WHERE ~ WHEN ~ HOW~ WHY & STRATEGIES

2

Methodology and Process

WHO: Groups in the News

2013 1 United Nations 2 UNICEF 3 CARE 4 UNFPA 5 Human Rights Watch 6 USAID 7 Save the Children 8 PLAN International 9 UNDP 10 World Vision 11 Girls Not Brides 12 Population Council 13 Council on Foreign Relations 14 ICRW 15 Too Young to Wed

3

WHO: People Most Quoted

2013 1 Barack Obama 2 Ban Ki-moon 3 Hillary Rodham Clinton 4 Gordon Brown 5 Babatunde Osotimehin 6 John Kerry 7 Desmond Tutu 8 Lakshmi Sundaram 9 Mohammed Morsi 10 Stephanie Sinclair

4

WHO: Names in the News

•  During 2013, the United Nations was the most quoted organization on child marriage with UNICEF as the lead agency. This is in large part due to various UNICEF country actions including reports, forums and statements around country-specific campaigns.

•  Desmond Tutu, as one of the leaders of The Elders, continues to be one of the top global spokespeople along with UN officials, Barack Obama and the U.S. Secretary of State in both U.S. and global coverage.

•  International NGOs receiving the most coverage include: CARE, Human Rights Watch, Save the Children, PLAN, Girls Not Brides, World Vision and the Population Council and International Center for Research on Women.

•  This coverage tracks the major research and advocacy work outlined in the Timeline on pages 12-14 of this report.

5

WHAT: Issues Related to Child Marriage

6

Total Global Stories 2013 6945 Education 3371 49% Legislation 2633 38% Health 1912 28% Violence 1508 22% Religion 1117 17% Human Rights 1092 16% Poverty 890 13% Police 743 11% Culture 741 11% Rape 626 9% HIV/AIDS 358 5% Reproductive Health 306 4% Slavery 191 3% FGM 174 3% Sex Trafficking 100 1%

•  Of the 7000 news stories and features with 50 words or more in the Lexis database used for this analysis, EDUCATION was associated in half of the stories.

•  LEGISLATION and LAWS were referenced in 38%, roughly four out of 10, stories with police references in 11% of the stories.

•  VIOLENCE and other related issues appeared in slightly more than 20 percent of the stories, with rape in 9%, slavery in only 3% and sex trafficking in only 1% of the stories.

•  RELIGION or RELIGIOUS appeared in 17% with culture in 11% indicating there is an opening for more positive stories as religious leaders are recruited and get more involved in global and local campaigns.

•  In the past few years, human rights groups including Human Rights Watch has become more public on the issue of ending child marriage, only 16% of the global stories reference human rights. However, in those countries where HRW has targeted campaigns, such as South Sudan, reference to human rights jumps to 45%.

•  HEALTH is referenced in 28%, as in lines about the impact of early marriage on a girl’s health. Specific references to reproductive health or HIV drops significantly to about 5%.

WHAT: Issues Related to Child Marriage

7

WHERE: Countries in the News Countries in the News in Coverage of Child Marriage Total Stories 2013 6945 Afghanistan 286 4% Syria 283 4% Egypt 216 3% Yemen 211 3% South Africa 204 3% Kenya 143 2% Saudi Arabia 113 2% Uganda 97 2% Zambia 70 1% Liberia 60 1% Tanzania 58 1% Rwanda 56 1% Sri Lanka 51 1%

Countries with High CM Numbers/Rates in the Coverage of Child Marriage Total Stories 2013 6945 India 1140 20% Pakistan 724 10% Bangladesh 411 5% Nigeria 316 5% Ethiopia 159 2% Nepal 159 2% DR of Congo 94 1% Niger 90 1% Mali 88 1% Mexico 87 1% Brazil 82 1% South Sudan 79 1% Somalia 72 1% Guinea 71 1% Indonesia 70 1% Chad 63 1% Malawi 62 1% Sierra Leone 62 1% Mozambique 48 1% Burkina Faso 35 >1% Central African Rep 28 >1% Eritrea 15 >1% Madagascar 9 >1%

8

Where: Countries Mentioned in Coverage Su

bjec

t Cou

ntrie

s by

Fre

quen

cy

of R

efer

ence

•  Twenty percent of global media coverage on child marriage is about the situation in India or makes reference to India, with a ten-fold increase since 2008. This correlates with India having the largest number of child brides in the world.

•  In nearly all countries with either large numbers or high rates of child marriages, there has been a significant increases in coverage between 2008 and 2013. In developing countries where reporters have been posted to cover major news stories either due to war, conflict, protests, extreme weather conditions or other crises, stories have emerged that include references to child marriage.

Year 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Total News Coverage 1637 2450 3228 3781 5211 6945 United States News Coverage 632 771 636 716 875 1026 India 116 368 637 945 1843 1318 Pakistan 48 198 338 440 786 724 Bangladesh 26 74 110 210 298 411 Nigeria 17 39 145 79 110 316 Afghanistan 60 172 168 227 230 286 Ethiopia 19 33 51 69 69 159 Democratic Republic of Congo 22 56 41 50 48 94 Niger 10 32 22 31 59 90 Mali 4 19 9 26 32 88 Mexico 36 38 50 56 53 87 Brazil 24 30 41 54 53 82 South Sudan 2 7 3 14 42 79

9

10

Stories 50+ Words in More Mainstream Global Media

Year 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Child/Early Marriage Global 1637 2450 3228 3781 5211 6945

USA 632 771 636 716 875 1026

WHEN: Media Coverage by Year

0  

500  

1000  

1500  

2000  

2500  

3000  

Jul/Aug/Sep  2011  

Oct/Nov/Dec  2011  

Jan/Feb/Mar  2012  

Apr/May/Jun  2012  

Jul/Aug/Sep  2012  

Oct/Nov/Dec  2012  

Jan/Feb/Mar  2013  

Apr/May/Jun  2013  

Jul/Aug/Sep  2013  

Oct/Nov/Dec  2013  

Child/Early  Marriage  Global  Coverage  by  Quarter  

WHEN: 2011-2013 News Coverage

11

Day  of  the  Girl  Child  

Girls  Not  Brides  Launch  

Day  of  the  African  Child  

1948 1957 1965 1973 1981 1989 1997 2000 2013

1948: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “men and women of full age” have the right to marry and affirms that “marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.”  

1962: The UN Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age of Marriage and Registration of Marriage calls upon member states to establish a minimum age of marriage and a system of registration.

1979: The United Nations approves CEDAW (the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women) which states that women should have the same right as men to “freely choose a spouse and to enter into marriage only with their free and full consent” and that the “betrothal and marriage of a child shall have no legal effect.”

1989: The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child sets out the human rights of children. In signing the Convention, governments pledge to take “all effective and appropriate measures with a view to abolish traditional practices prejudicial to the health of children,” which include, among other practices, female genital mutilation/cutting and child marriage.

1994: International Conference on Population and Development adopts a Programme of Action in which countries agree to take measures to eliminate child marriage and to “strictly enforce laws to ensure that marriage is entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.”

1995: The Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing, adopts the Platform of Action that includes a section on the Girl-Child and calls upon governments to “enact and strictly enforce laws to ensure that marriage is only entered into with the free and full consent of the intending spouses; in addition, enact and strictly enforce laws concerning the minimum legal age of consent and the minimum age for marriage and raise the minimum age for marriage where necessary”

HOW: Timeline: 1948-2000

<1948 2000> 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 <2010 2013>

2001: UNICEF publishes Early Marriage: Child Spouses focusing on the marriage of children under the age of 18 from a human rights perspective beyond earlier research on reproductive health, school drop-out and rising population.  

2005: UNICEF releases Early Marriage: A Harmful Traditional Practice using data from the Demographic and Household Surveys to estimate the prevalence of child marriage (CM).

ICRW, International Center for Research on Women publishes Too Young to Wed: Education & Action Toward Ending Child Marriage making the case that CM undermines U.S. development efforts in other programs and recommending ways U.S. policy can end the practice.

The Population Council releases Child Marriage in the Context of the HIV Epidemic to help understand connections.

The Maputo Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women establishes 18 as the minimum age of marriage.

2006: USAID publishes first issue brief on ECM. Advocates urge the State Department to include CM data in its annual human rights report.

IPPF and the Forum on Marriage and the Rights of Women & Girls publishes Ending Child Marriage: A Guide for Global Policy Action calling for international advocacy around economic development to end CM.

2007: The Population Council releases Reaching the Girls Left Behind, recommending that ECM be among integrated strategies to help girls reach their fullest potential.

ICRW publishes New Insights on Preventing Child Marriage focusing on the risk factors associated with CM and approaches to prevent it in developing countries and How to End Child Marriage: Action Strategies for Prevention and Protection outlining successful community interventions that reduce child marriage rates.

2008: World Vision publishes Before She’s Ready: 15 Places Girls Marry at 15 using global survey data and field staff experiences in a variety of countries and cultural contexts where girls are commonly married before they are fully physically or emotionally grown.

HOW: Timeline: 2001-2010

HOW: Timeline: 2011-2013

2011: The

Elders launch Girls Not Brides at Clinton Global Initiative.

ICRW: Solutions to End Child Marriage, What the Evidence Shows.

PRB: Who Speaks For Me? Ending Child Marriage.

Plan International: Breaking Vows: Early and Forced Marriage and Girls’ Education and Take the Vow.

The Commonwealth Heads of State commit to addressing early and forced marriage.

Human Rights Watch: How Come You Allow Little Girls to be Married?

ICRW: Delaying Marriage for Girls in India - Research for Changing Norms.

2012: The First

International Day of the Girl Child.

Too Young to Wed photo exhibit at UN headquarters.

UNFPA: Marrying Too Young: End Child Marriage.

USAID: Ending Child Marriage and Meeting the Needs of Married Children: Vision for Action.

UNICEF: ABC’s For Action and Advocacy: A Note on Child Marriage.

World Health Assembly includes ECM at annual meeting.

The EU Strategic Framework on Human Rights adds protection against CM.

UN Special Envoy on Global Education: Out of Wedlock into School.

US Presidential Memorandum, Policies and Programs to Promote Gender Equality includes section on ECM.

2013: High Level Panel on Post-2015 MDGs adds ECM on agenda.

Council on Foreign Relations: Ending Child Marriage: How Elevating the Status of Girls Advances U.S. Foreign Policy Objective.

Violence Against Women Journal: Girl Child Marriage and its Association with National Rates of HIV, Maternal Health and Infant Mortality Across 97 Countries.

Plan International: A girl’s right to say no to marriage - working to end child marriage and keep girls in school.

Human Rights Watch: This Old Man Can Feed Us, You Will Marry Him.

Obama signs Violence Against Women Act with new section on ECM.

Global Education Summit addresses ECM.

Anti-Slavery International: Out of the Shadows: Child Marriage and Slavery.

UN Commission on Status of Women - First-ever special session on ECM.

World Vision: Untying the Knot: Exploring Early Marriage in Fragile States .

PRB policy brief on CM data in Arab region.

Too Young to Wed photo exhibit at U.S. Senate.

ICRW: Turning Point Campaign.

UN Human Rights Council Resolution on ECM.

First regional research report: Mapping Early Marriage in West Africa.

Girls Not Brides expands to over 300 member organizations in 50 countries!

<1948 2010> 2011 2012 2013 14

•  From 1948, with the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights to the next generation in the 1960’s, issues related to early or child marriage revolved mainly around the age of marriage and a system of legal registration. Few people or organizations had associated child marriage with the disparate impact on girls, their health, education or human rights.

•  Then through a series of UN Conventions – CEDAW and Discrimination Against Women, the Rights of the Child – and around the human rights conference in the 1990’s on population and development, women’s rights, etc. did researchers, UN agencies and donors identify the interrelationships of child marriage and women’s rights, education, reproductive health, poverty, or violence.

•  There has been a steady increase in media attention and awareness of child marriage since 2008 with a dramatic upswing in 2012 and 2013 in large part due to the creation of Girls Not Brides and with the inauguration of a UN Day of the Girl Child.

•  The chart on page 11 shows media coverage by quarter from July 2011 or Q3 2011, just prior to the launch of Girls Not Brides in October 2011 to Q4 2013. Highlights include: UN Days – especially of the Girl Child, Africa Day of the Child, personal stories that go viral, release of reports and events.

WHEN & HOW: Coverage over Time

15

WHY Child Marriage: 37% Stories on Problems •  Just over one-third of the sampled media

coverage on child marriage raised awareness of the problem and focused primarily on the circumstances and consequences for the girls.

•  Personal stories tended to focus on younger girls marrying older men.

•  Newer and different types of stories about specific girls tended to be the ones that went viral: in January there was a burst of articles about a 15-year-old girl forced to marry a 90-year-old man in Saudi Arabia. In March, coverage included possible reforms in Morocco after reports of a girl who was raped and then committed suicide after being forced to marry her rapist. In the summer, several videos from Yemen were posted on CNN and YouTube of a girl telling stories of child marriage and another who died on her wedding night.

•  No question, these pieces raise awareness of the problem, but can often leave readers and viewers left with a feeling that the problem is so big, there is not much that they can do to help curb the practice.

16

WHY: 54% on Problems/Solutions •  Roughly half of the 2013 sampled news

stories focused on the problem with generic solution and few specifics.

•  These stories were often triggered by reports released by NGOs, UN agencies or governments.

•  Victims of child marriage are featured in about half of the stories, many with individual success stories, and included general solutions, calls to action or the launching of a campaign.

•  Features usually included the overall numbers of girls worldwide affected by child marriages, ranging from 10 million a year to 58 million in the last decade. Country specific stories included local or regional numbers.

•  Many of these stories include information about current marriage-age laws.

•  There were not consistently defined solutions or potential positive results if child marriages are stopped. This creates an opening for advocates to better define solutions and needed programs. 17

WHY Child Marriage: 9% Stories on Results

•  One in ten of the sampled 2013 news stories featured successful programs, information about how these work and specific numbers of child marriages averted.

•  More than half of these “success stories” included a personal narrative about an individual or group of girls who were helped by the program.

•  The percent of these success stories increased slightly to 12% percent in the 2013 3Q and 4Q.

•  A pro-active placement strategy focusing on agreed-upon success stories could hasten this process and would likely help bring in new donors and support policy advances.

18

WHY: Potential Backlash – Why We Care?

19

•  Leading US columnist asks: Do we really need a global crusade to end a custom already in decline and generally limited to impoverished rural areas?

•  Viral video of Yemeni child marriage is called into question.

•  This is followed by reports of a child bride dying on her wedding night. Media then reported her appearing at a press conference.

•  Religious opposition groups and extremist political cults who profess females are second class and oppose equality are becoming vocal.

20

STRATEGY: Track and Respond to Coverage

20

STRATEGY: Direct Coverage to Success Stories

21

A goal should be to shift coverage toward more success stories with outcomes about larger scale programs showing declining numbers and rates of child marriages – from 9% of stories in 2013 to 25-35-45% in the next few years.

54%

on Problems with Generic Solutions

37%

on Problems

9%

on Success Stories with Outcomes

Strategy: Report on Rates AND Numbers

22

Country Rates Niger 36% Bangladesh 32% CA Republic 29% Chad 29% Mozambique 21% Guinea 20% Eritrea 20% India 18% Sierra Leone 18% Mali 15%

Country Number in thousands India 10,063 Bangladesh 2,359 Nigeria 1,198 Brazil 877 Ethiopia 673 Pakistan 560 Indonesia 458 DRC 291 Mexico 260 Niger 244

STRATEGY: Find Stories near Media Bureaus

Asia: Bangkok Beijing Hong Kong Jakarta New Delhi Mumbai Seoul Tokyo

Latin America: Havana Mexico City Rio de Janeiro

Europe: Bonn Frankfurt London Moscow Paris Rome

Middle East: Amman Baghdad Cairo Dubai Islamabad Jerusalem Kabul Tel Aviv  

Africa: Johannesburg Lagos Nairobi

North America: New York Atlanta Chicago Los Angeles Toronto  

23

STRATEGY: Focus on Global News Outlets

•  5,000 text stories in six languages filed every day

•  20 television news reports •  Up to 3,000 photographs •  80 still and interactive

graphics •  120 bureaus •  1,400 staff journalists and

700 freelancers in 165 countries

•  Largest broadcasting corporation in the world

•  233 million people used BBC’s global news service last year

•  24,000+ people employed in 43 countries

•  17,000 journalism staff

•  4,000 news professionals

•  20 locations in USA •  32 global offices •  24/7 news cycle •  CNN International is

leading cable in nearly all world capitals

•  Reporters and policymakers around the world read NYT •  50,000 employees in

93 countries •  2,400 journalists

worldwide •  200 bureaus •  600 photographers

and editors

24

•  65 global bureaus, 16 in USA

•  3,000 staff; 400 journalists; 60 countries

•  10 different networks •  40 million viewers in

Arab world •  Most watched news

channel on YouTube

•  Trend setter in Europe and donor countries

•  243 bureaus in 97 countries with 3,000 journalists

•  1,700 U.S. daily, weekly, non-English and college newspapers

25

Strategy: A Picture is Worth 1000 Words

STRATEGY: Visuals for Different Audience

•  Donor audiences are more likely to respond to messages that give hope for making change. Research by Aspen Institute, Frameworks, George Lakoff and others shows if people think the problem is so big that there is little they can do, their eyes glaze over and they move to other issues.

•  At the same time however, images need to bring in the very men we are trying to change into champions with messages of self-interest for themselves and their daughters.

26

STRATEGY: Frame the Debate

27

Ending Child Marriage In a Generation Messaging Platform DRAFT December 3, 2013!

We Believe! The world now has the biggest generation of girls in history. By ending child marriage we can empower these girls to fulfill their potential and help to transform communities on an unprecedented scale. "

Benefits! Ending Child Marriage could transform the lives of the estimated 39,000 young girls who now marry every day in what too often are legal or customary unions. They would be more likely to complete primary and secondary school, raising their earning potential and boosting their family and national income. Their risks of HIV infection, pregnancy, maternal deaths and domestic violence would decline, and they would likely bear fewer, healthier children and have a better life for themselves and their families. "

The Challenge! An estimated 14 million girls are married before they turn 18 every year. Across the developing world, more than one-third of girls are married by age 18, and one in seven is married by age 15, with devastating effects on women's health, education, earning power and independence. Poverty is both a cause and a result of child marriage."

The Solution!Global decision-makers are becoming more aware of the threat child marriage poses to world development, prosperity, stability and the achievement of 6 of the 8 Millennium Development Goals. Enforcement of existing laws, research on root causes, and programs to raise community awareness and to empower girls, single or married, can change social norms and end this harmful practice in a generation. In 2012, the UN launched the first International Day of the Girl Child by calling for an end to child marriage, holding a special session and committing to on going actions. President Obama and then-Secretary Clinton released an Executive Memorandum on the rights of women and girls that included ECM."

Audiences! Global, national and community decision-makers; multilateral and bilateral donor institutions, governments and individuals; policy and program decision-makers in civic and non-governmental organizations; religious leaders, academics and researchers; young people, both girls and boys and media representatives."

Our Role!Donors can fund research, data collection and pilot programs that can scale up for better understanding of the problem and its impact, as well as institution-strengthening to improve law enforcement and democratic governance. NGOs can determine best practices and programs for possible scale-up. Girls Not Brides will engage world leaders to raise global awareness of the issue. To ensure that the funds retain a focus on improving the lives of girls, programs should support the girls and their families directly, rather than work through intermediaries."

Internal Message! We know what to do to curb child marriage. We can foster a shift in social norms and end child marriage in a generation. All that is needed is the political will to take action."

Strategies! Empower Girls with Information, Skills and Support Networks!

Enhance Girls' Access to Quality Education!

Provide Economic Support & Incentives to Girls & Families!

Encourage Supportive Laws and Policies!

Educate and Rally Parents and Community Members!

Embrace the Human Rights Framework!

Encourage a Reproductive Health Agenda!

Why?!

Girls who marry young do not receive the educational and economic opportunities that help lift themselves, their children and their communities out of poverty. "

Child brides usually drop out of school and are expected to devote their time exclusively to home and family. "

Some parents, especially in cultures of discrimination against girls and preference for sons, may see daughters as a financial burden or as commodities to exchange for necessary goods. They lose the girls' future earning potential and perpetuate poverty across generations."

In fragile states with corrupt, violent or ineffective governance, traditional practices enforced by social pressures may have more authority than weakly enforced national laws. "

Sometimes parents believe the practice of child marriage will protect their daughters from assault or dishonor. However, the children and families of child brides are also at risk."

Child marriage is a serious human rights violation. It denies girls their rights to health, to education, to live in security and to choose when and whom they marry. Child marriage and forced marriage are closely inter-linked. Both are a violation of the right, widely recognized in international human rights law, of men and women to enter into marriage only with their ʻfree and full consentʼ. "

Child brides face higher risk of death and injury due to early sexual activity and childbearing. Girls under 15 are five times more likely to die in childbirth than women in their 20s. "

What Can Be Done?!

Informal education programs can provide groups of girls with information on ways to prevent HIV/AIDS and combat violence,reasons to stay in school and improved health care and nutrition. Existing aid programs with those goals can specifically integrate teen and pre-teen girls with peer mentors and financial incentives."

Donors can fund secure and girl-friendly schools, safe transport and financial incentives such as free uniforms or cash to keep girls in school.Parents and religious and community leaders can be educated on the economic and societal benefits of girls' schooling for the community."

Anti-poverty measures can include direct incentives to parents to keep girls single and in school; training, education, family planning and micro-credit programs for married girls; access to property and legal rights for women; and laws to bar discrimination and violence against girls and women."

Assistance providers can document the prevalence and effects of child marriage on economic growth to foster the passage and enforcement of laws against child marriage. Decision makers must know that the Millennium Development Goals will not be reached if child marriage continues at current rates. "

Changing social norms means developing programs targeting fathers and mothers in understanding the harm of early marriage. Engaging religious leaders is especially important. Women teachers and social leaders can become spokespeople, role models and mentors."

Countries can be pressed to fulfill commitments under international human rights treaties such as CEDAW and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.The MDG, ICPD and Women's Rights agreements provide a framework for change. Donors and agencies can require reporting and make aid and promotions contingent on progress."

Research suggests the need for a shift away from interventions targeted at changing girls' behavior or preventing pregnancy, and toward targeting the circumstances, norms and structural conditions that both perpetuate teen pregnancies and marginalize pregnant girls. Also, skilled health workers are needed who can provide pregnant adolescents with an early start to antenatal care and with information on their options. "

Promising Programs!

The Maharashtra Life Skills Programin India met with girls for one hour each weekday over one year on social issues and institutions, life skills and health, including child health and nutrition.The goal was to provide them with information and negotiating skills to delay their own marriages and to improve their health and development "

In Egypt, the Ishraq program for out-of-school girls age 12-15 teaches literacy, numeracy and health and life skills for two years to help prepare the girls to return to school. It also educates community leaders on the consequences of and alternatives to child marriage. "

Few programs against poverty specifically address child marriage. In Bangladesh, BRAC's Social and Financial Empowerment of Adolescents program is one of them: it teaches girls financial literacy for micro-enterprise management, savings and credit for economic independence. "

In Afghanistan, the Community-Based Rural Livelihoods Program mobilizes groups of women to press for community action on issues such as child marriage and domestic violence. It has strengthened the local "shura" governance structures to respond, to resolve local conflicts, and to address women's need for better reproductive health care."

One of the few rigorously evaluated programs to delay marriage, Berhane Hewan in Ethiopia, includes economic incentives to stay in school, comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care education, and female role models who served as intermediary ʻbuffersʼ between girls and the social and family pressures on them to marry."

Over 100 countries co-sponsored a resolution on child, early and forced marriage to be considered in the post-2015 development agenda. The resolution was unanimously adopted and is the first to be passed on the issue at the Human Rights Council. "

The Population Council's Abriendo Oportunidades program in Guatemala gives a one-year life skills course to unmarried girls 8 to 18, providing mentors and role models, training and workshops on life skills, planning, sexual and reproductive health, and preventing HIV-AIDS."

PLAN UK's Building Skills for Life program targeting child marriage in seven African countries found that messages focusing on its dangers to girls' health were more effective in curbing parents' use of the practice than messages asserting girls' rights."

The US Agency for International Development's Safe Schools program uses a "Doorways" curriculum to make healthier and more child-friendly classrooms and help children combat violence or abuse. It operates in the Dominican Republic, Ghana, Malawi, Senegal, Tajikistan and Yemen. "

In Jamaica, UNFPA works with the Womenʼs Centre of Jamaica Foundation and funding from the European Union to support a program of training and incentives that has enabled thousands of girls to acquire livelihood and technical skills and to return to school following pregnancies."

Oxfam's Integrated Action on Poverty and Early Marriage program in Yemen uses policy research, media advocacy and workshops among groups of journalists, doctors and local leaders to build alliances pressing for passage of a minimum age of marriage law, especially targeting religious leaders. "

Tostan's Community Empowerment program in Senegal mobilizes community leaders to stand up against practices harming women such as child marriage and genital cutting. It also targets women and girls with informal education sessions around hygiene, problem-solving,health and human rights."

Human Rights Watch has monitored and cited cases of child marriage in Bangladesh, Chad, Egypt, India, Iraq, Kenya, Papua New Guinea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Uganda, and Uzbekistan. They have interviewed women and girls who experienced child marriage in Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Yemen, and most recently South Sudan, where we found that almost half of the girls 15-19 were married. Human rights campaigns have been launched to change laws and push for implementation of legislation."

Broad-based approaches that build girls' human capital, promote their agency to make decision about their lives and present options for their lives beyond motherhood have proved best at curbing both child marriage and adolescent pregnancies. "

For More Information, contact: Kathy Bonk, Executive Director CCMC, Communications Consortium Media Center 401 Ninth Street NW Suite 450 Washington, DC 20004 202.326.8700 email: kbonk@ccmc.org All Photos Stephanie Sinclair/ VII/ Too Young to Wed