Early Marriage among Female Youth in Displacement

The study, conducted by Save the Children Denmark in partnership with Tufts University, sought to shed light on the experiences, challenges, opportunities and constraints faced by female youth displaced by conflict in South Sudan and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, with a focus on early marriage. The research team, comprised of researchers from the affected communities, utilized holistic, participatory methods to engage more than one hundred female youth in multiple rounds of data collection over 1.5 years. Participants were unmarried, married (as minors), divorced, and widowed. The study also included female youth that had experienced unintended pregnancy and those that were living with physical, intellectual, or psychological disabilities. A series of six briefing papers will be released in 2022 which focus specifically on 1) early pregnancy and sexual and reproductive health 2) decision making around the practice of early marriage 3) life after early marriage 4) the special situation of divorced and widowed female youth 5) MHPSS, displacement and early marriage and 6) education, displacement, and early marriage. Each paper provides cross-sectoral, concrete recommendations for humanitarian organizations seeking to prevent and respond to early marriage in fragile settings.

**This project received support from Save the Children Denmark, DANIDA, Tufts University and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 786064.