Early marriage defined as marriage before the age of 18 is a social problem affecting girls. It affects their health and undermines their personal development, thus preventing them from living prosperous and fulfilled lives.
Early marriage although a common marital practice in The Gambian society has decreased significantly in recent years, and several strategies have contributed to this result: 1. school enrollment; 2) legislation against child marriage; 3) the general civil society and socially active associations. However, more efforts need to be done, such as having a gender culture transformation to impact in cultural norms and provide girls with decision-making capacity regarding who and when to get married.
This "behind the paper" blog post discusses a five-year community-based intervention titled "Preventing Early Marriage in Rural Gambia: Testing an Intervention." The project aimed to address the issue of early marriage among girls in 53 rural communities in The Gambia.. At baseline, the aim of the project was to identify the social and cultural factors that contribute to early marriage for girls aged 10–19. The baseline findings revealed that factors such as ethnicity and parents' concerns about their daughters engaging in premarital sex were significant contributors to early marriage for girls. Additionally, the lack of viable alternatives to marriage was also identified as a key factor. This information was utilized by the project team to iteratievly design and implement the project intervention that included community engagement forums and discussion sessions and capacity building for key community stakeholders.
After five years of successfully implementing the project intervention, we conducted an assessment to evaluate its impact on the age of girls at their first marriage and the changes in parents' knowledge and attitudes toward early marriage and its prevention. The study utilized a non-experimental design, comparing baseline and endline data collected before and after the intervention.
The study results showed a significant increase in the average age of girls at first marriage, from 15.9 at baseline to 23.9 years at endline (P < 0.0001). Additionally, parents who actively participated in the community engagement forums and discussions have significantly improved their understanding of the harmful effects of early marriage on girls. This new knowledge has empowered these parents to re-evaluate the necessity of early marriage for girls.
A key lesson we learned from developing this project intervention is that locally-based interventions, carefully designed and implemented with meaningful participation from key community stakeholders, have the potential to address the underlying causes of early marriage for girls in rural communities in The Gambia.