Using Social and Behavior Change to Prevent and Respond to Child Marriage

Deliberate inclusion of contextualised social and behavior change (SBC) components into CEFMU programs is critical to tackle the underlying drivers of child marriage and create sustained change. SBC approaches prioritize evidence based interventions that can cut across the multiple drivers of an issue – spanning multiple levels of the socio-ecological model – and support the adoption of new positive norms. SBC is particularly effective at influencing the underlying social and gender norms that facilitate or inhibit families and girls from making and acting on decisions. Further, interventions that incorporate strengthening the capacity of communities to self-identify and act on the specific social norms and circumstances influencing child marriage in their own communities can spark local social movements to prevent future child marriages and respond to those that have already occurred. Incorporation of both SBC and community capacity strengthening components into CEFMU programming can help create an enabling environment within which communities and governments can work to ensure that girls are able to live healthy lives, learn and participate and access equal opportunities throughout their lives.