Adolescence

past decade, though not all of them have actually broughtprosecutions against offenders. 51Initiatives on gender and protectionExperience shows that programmes that cut across sectors,promote discussion, debate and broad participation andsuccessfully, over time, generate consensus around humanrights principles and corresponding social change, can leadto a decrease in harmful practices that predominantly affectwomen and girls. This directly results in greater equalitybetween men and women, reduced child mortality andimproved maternal health.In Uganda, for example, Raising Voices and the Centrefor Domestic Violence Prevention supported communityinitiatives designed to challenge gender norms and preventviolence against women and children. Their activitiesincluded raising awareness on domestic violence, buildingnetworks of support and action within the community andprofessional sectors, supporting community activities suchas discussions, door-to-door visits and theatre, and usingmedia such as radio, television and newspapers to promotewomen’s rights. 52In Senegal, a community empowerment programme supportedby Tostan, a non-governmental organization thatengages local facilitators to lead sensitization and awarenessraisingsessions in villages, led to a 77 per cent decrease inthe prevalence of FGM/C. The community sensitizationinitiative also involves raising awareness of the negativeimplications of child marriage. 53In Ethiopia, as a result of the Kembatta Mentti Gezzima-Tope (KMG) programme, which facilitated community dialogueand collective community decisions around FGM/Cand alternatives, most families in the zone abandonedFGM/C. Whereas before the programme, which took placein 2008, 97 per cent of villagers were in favour of FGM/C,after it 96 per cent accepted that it should be abandoned.Just as vitally, 85 per cent of villagers believed that uncutgirls were no longer “despised” in their communities. 54Around 60 per cent of programmes combating child marriageare based on community sensitization of this kind.Other programmes aim to educate girls directly about thedisadvantages of early marriage and offer incentives not toengage in it. The Government of Bangladesh, for example,has since 1994 been offering secondary school scholarshipsto girls who postpone marriage, 55 while in the Indian stateof Maharashtra, girls’ participation in a life-skills educationcourse has been demonstrated to delay their marriageby a year. 56In other Indian states – Andhra Pradesh, Haryana,Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan and TamilNadu – both girls and their families are offered financialincentives to delay marriage until the age of 18. 5734Figure 2.7: Marriage by age of first union in selected countries with available disaggregated dataPercentage of women aged 20–24 who werefirst married or in union by ages 15, 18 or 20100806040200Married or in union at age 18 or after but before age 20Married or in union at age 15 or after but before age 18Married or in union before age 1513 13 16 25 29 32 36 39 44 44 49 50 51 51 55 56 58 59 61 62 62 63 63 64 67 71 75 79South AfricaSwazilandNamibiaSri LankaSource: DHS and other national surveys, 2000–2009.THE STATE OF THE WORLD’S CHILDREN 2011RwandaCape VerdePakistanGhanaLesothoKenyaGabonCongoLiberiaNigeriaBeninSenegalDemocratic Republicof the CongoZambiaMadagascarSierra LeoneEthiopiaUnited Republic of TanzaniaEritreaIndiaUgandaNepalGuineaBangladeshNigerMaliChad85 86 86