Project profile — Support to UNFPA-UNICEF Global Programme to Accelerate Action to End Child Marriage

• Zambia (7.00%)
• Bangladesh (12.00%)
• Sierra Leone (7.00%)
• Uganda (7.00%)
• Burkina Faso (7.00%)
• Ghana (7.00%)
• Ethiopia (8.00%)
• Niger (8.00%)
• India (11.00%)
• Mozambique (7.00%)
• Nepal (12.00%)
• Yemen (7.00%)

• Government And Civil Society, General: Ending violence against women and girls (15180) (100.00%)

• Gender equality (principal objective)
• Children's issues (principal objective)
• Youth Issues (principal objective)

This project represents emergency support of $10M to contribute to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)/United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Global Programme to End Child Marriage’s COVID-19 response at the country level. Project activities include: (1) supporting the program to empower young, feminist innovators to address child marriage by partnering with innovation hubs. These hubs bring these innovators together from across Africa and South Asia to enhance their understanding of the issues around child marriage and aggregate their creative abilities to address child marriage; (2) supporting the program to launch a global communications campaign on boys and gender equality, using the lens of COVID-19 and child marriage. This campaign engages men and boys to act as champions of gender equality and to interrogate and transform harmful masculinities from an early age; and (3) supporting the program to ramp up its use of digital technologies to address child marriage by developing a coherent, uniform digital system to ensure strategic oversight, adaptability, interoperability and scale in addressing the challenges of ending child marriage in the context of COVID-19. These digital platforms facilitate the faster learning and program adaptation needed to inform Global Programme actions in the path to ending child marriage by 2030. The project supports the UNICEF/UNFPA Global Programme to End Child Marriage, a multi-donor joint United Nations program aimed at eliminating child marriage in 12 countries in Africa and South Asia where the rates of child marriage are among the highest: Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Yemen and Zambia. The project focuses on enabling girls at risk of child marriage to choose and direct their own futures, through activities aimed at the empowerment of girls, with the ultimate aim to prevent child marriage and support already married girls. The COVID-19 pandemic is disrupting programmers aimed at ending harmful practices. UNFPA estimates this could lead, over the next decade, to 2 million additional cases of female genital mutilation/cutting and 13 million additional cases of child, early and forced marriage that would have been otherwise averted.

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) adolescent girls at increased risk or affected by child marriage due to COVID-19 are making informed decisions and choices about marriage, education and sexual and reproductive health; (2) marginalized adolescent girls, including those in contexts of humanitarian crisis, have enhanced knowledge, education, life skills and attitudes on their rights, relationships, sexual and reproductive health and personal finances; (3) adolescent boys, families, traditional and religious leaders, community groups and other influencers demonstrate more gender-equitable attitudes and support for girls’ rights; (4) relevant sectoral systems and institutions effectively respond to the needs of adolescent girls and their families in targeted Global Programme areas; (5) education, health, gender-based violence and child protection systems have increased capacity to deliver coordinated, quality program and services that are responsive to the needs of adolescent girls and their families, including for those in contexts of humanitarian crisis; and (6) increased capacity of national and sub-national social protection, poverty reduction and economic empowerment programs and services to respond to the needs of the poorest adolescent girls and their families, including in those in contexts of humanitarian crisis.

Results achieved as of December 2023 include: (1) supported over 30 million adolescent girls (aged 10 to 19) to participate in life skills or comprehensive sexuality education programs; (2) supported 2.9 million adolescent girls to enroll and remain in school; (3) engaged 66 million community members, including adolescent boys and girls, in meaningful community dialogues. This includes dialogues on child marriage, adolescent girls’ rights, and gender equality; (4) reached close to 400 million individuals by mass media (traditional and social media) messaging on child marriage, adolescent girls’ rights, and gender equality; (5) 2,400 primary, secondary, and non-formal schools in program areas reported providing quality gender-friendly education that meets minimum standards; (6) drafted, proposed or adopted 118 policies or legal instruments addressing child marriage at the national and sub-national level; and (7) strengthened 21,000 service delivery points in program areas to provide quality adolescent responsive services that meet the minimum standards. These delivery points include health, child protection, and gender-based violence services.

• Proactive disclosure