The African Union Campaign to End Child Marriage 5. WOMEN, PEACE AND SECURITY ..................................................................................................................................................... 214

I am Saleema Because I am strong in my decisions Because I am not afraid of change Because what we are learning now is more than what we knew before Because our whole society is changing for the better1621

The African Union Campaign to End Child Marriage

According to UNFPA, globally, 20% of girls are married before the age of 18. Incidence of early marriage doubles in developing countries, with 40% of girls getting married before turning 18 and 12% of girls getting married before turning 15.1622 Fifteen out of the 20 countries with the highest child marriage rates are in Africa.1623 The major driving forces behind early marriage in Africa include poverty, harmful practices, religious beliefs and gaps in laws against harmful practices.1624 It is family members and close relatives, who disregard the girls consent, who arrange most child marriages on the continent.1625 Denial of rights also disrupts girls’ education, as early marriages force girls to drop out of school. Early marriage is also often followed by early pregnancy and complicated delivery, putting the young mother’s life at risk.1626

To this end, the AU Agenda 2063 and the SDGs aim to end child marriage. To reach this objective, the AU launched the Campaign to End Child Marriage in Africa on 29 May 2014.1627 The Campaign was scheduled to run for four years (2014–2017), to accelerate existing efforts to end child marriage on the continent.1628 The end was later extended to 2022 and the Campaign is currently in phase 2.

The AU Campaign to End Child Marriage aims to raise continental awareness on the harmfulness of the practice, support national legal and policy frameworks that uphold human rights and instigate social movements and mobilisation at the local grassroots level. The Campaign also focuses on enhancing local governments’ capacity to ensure the sustainability of local leadership to take over even after the Campaign ends.1629 The Campaign has three major components: advocacy, monitoring and evaluation, and facilitation of technical assistance and capacitybuilding. To this end, advocacy and social mobilisation and Member States’ capacity enhancement are project outputs that quickly followed the Campaign’s launch.1630

Among the AU Campaign’s major achievements, promotion and integration of the issue on local governments’ agendas have shown the most progress. By 2017, 22 governments in Africa had launched the Campaign in their country. Most of these countries also exhibit the practice at a great scale (Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Sudan).1631 The Campaign has been followed by other continental campaigns that have successfully promoted the same objective across several African countries. Among these, Girls Not Brides is an international partnership to end child marriage and a member of the AU Technical Committee for the Campaign. Continued efforts from implementing partners like Girls Not Brides and other CSOs on the continent are also guaranteeing the project’s sustainability in the fight towards eradicating child marriage in Africa. Ultimately, national, regional and continental synergies play a key role in ensuring accelerated progress on the AU Campaign’s goal.1632

Among the challenges facing the AU Campaign strategy, insufficient communication with local stakeholders, including national governments, has been noted. This has loosened the accountability mechanisms and systems planned for use in follow-up on national governments and ministries. However, the Campaign has also recorded significant improvements in eradicating early marriage through strategic partnerships and collaborations with similar initiatives. Such a holistic approach is recommended for future campaign interventions through four objective strategies of advocacy, watchdog, networking and research.1633