Time To Act: 140 Million Girls Will Become Child Brides In 2020

"I am Issahaku Zelia, a 17 year old Junior High student in form 2. I am from a large polygamous family of 3 mothers and many children. My parents informed me in July 2014 that my bride price has been paid by a rich butcher resident in Accra, who has 2 wives and 5 children.

I was very confused but was certain that I did not want to be a wife at a very young age when there are innumerable personal and professional development opportunities open to me. As a beneficiary of the ActionAid Ghana’s Young Women Project (YUWP), I participated in meetings, training, exposure visits and discussions, which increased my knowledge to appreciate that I have the right to make decisions about my body and to choose a sexual partner for myself.

I confided in my female teachers who together with the coordinators of the Young Urban Women Project held series of meetings with my parents to support my decision. Because of my belief in human rights and women’s rights, I consistently impressed on my parents not to accept any dowry or gifts from the man. Unfortunately certain basic livelihood support that I normally receive from my parents ended because the to-be-husband was the one indirectly supporting my parents to provide my basic needs. If I had refused to marry him, the provisions should end too.

My mother at a point locked me and the man in a room to initiate sexual intercourse between us. I fought bitterly and my cries got neighbors to rescue me. This in a way provoked the man and in October, 2014, he married an elderly woman without consulting my parents. This was a big disappointment to the family. Although my parents are angry and disappointed, I am free now and able to continue my education. I could have been a young mother by now if the ActionAid Young Urban Women Project had not come into our community”.

This is the story of a young woman growing up in Tamale, the capital city of Ghana’s Northern Region.

A manifestation of gender inequality, forced marriage affects the female child, with Ghana’s 2011 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) indicating that 27% of girls were married before the age of 18 years as compared to boys (5%).

The practice of child marriage is a global issue.
The International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) evaluates that one third of girls growing up in the developing world are married before they turn 18 years and out of 9 girls, 1 is married before the age of 15.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) also estimates that between 2011 and 2020, more than 140 million girls worldwide will become child brides.

In Ghana, the legal age for consent of marriage is 18 years old, as stated in the 1992 Constitution and the Children’s Act (Act 560).

However, despite this law, children are forced into early marriages in many communities in Ghana’s 10 regions before the age of 18, with the highest records coming from the Upper East (39.2%) and Western region (36.7%)

The Upper West region follows with 36.3%, Central (31.2%), Ashanti (30.5%), Volta (29.3%), Brong Ahafo (29.1%), Northern Region (27.4), Eastern Region at 27.2% and Greater Accra with 12.2% (GSS, 2011 MICS)

Poverty is a major cause of child marriage, as can be seen from Zelia’s case.

In the 6 regions ActionAid Ghana works in, cases of child marriages are prevalent. There are interventions like the Young Urban Women Project (YUWP) the Community-Based Anti-violence Teams (COMBAT), Girls’ camps and girls clubs which help to provide monitoring of child marriage and marriage by abduction, as well as prevention and rescue of girls abducted for marriage.

The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) estimates that 39,000 girls are forced into marriage daily, and with gender inequality and poverty increasing worldwide, UNICEF is joining hands with ActionAid Ghana in the fight against child marriage in Ghana.

Child marriage affects both girls and boys, however for the girl child, the effects are most profound and disturbing.

The aim of the collaboration is to start a project aimed at reducing incidence of child marriage to effectively promote and sustain the protection and well-being of the child.

Two specific objectives of the project includes;
< >To reduce social-cultural practices that facilitate the incidence of child marriages in the targeted communities; To build the capacities of girls aged 12-17 years to claim their rights, resist child marriage and focus on education.

The project will involve working with communities and children’s clubs to increase advocacy and education towards the prevention of child marriage in Ghana.

With an expected result of 30% reduction in child marriage in prevalent areas, targeted communities include Bawku West, the Bongo Districts and Binduri in the Upper East region.

The project will be enrolled in 12 communities from 4 regions. The Jirapa, Lambussie-Karni as well as the Sissala East and West districts in the Upper West region where young girls are usually captured for marriage whiles trekking long distances to school. In the Brong Ahafo region, districts include the Tain, Banda and Atebubu-Amantin.

In Greater Accra, the focus will be on the Ga East and West districts.

The collaborative project has a duration of 2 years in which an expected 215,000 direct as well as indirect beneficiaries such as girls, boys, guardians, traditional leaders, teachers, the local community and its leaders will be impacted.

For 15 year old Fatima Sumani, who was abducted and forced into an early marriage before she was rescued by ActionAid in the Tanviel community in the Upper West region, early marriage affected her education, resulting in her falling behind in class: “I was not often going to school because of fear of being abducted for marriage coupled with house hold chores. As a result my performance in 2014 was not good so I could not be promoted to Junior High school.”

Aside an abrupt end to education for most of these girls, child marriage results in 90% of adolescent pregnancies. It is also found that complications due to this are among the leading causes of death among young girls in developing countries.

The Communications/Public Relations Department

ActionAid Ghana