The program activities include:
- Establishment and operationalization of 30 ARCs enrolling over 1,400 adolescents (900 girls and 530 boys).
- Engagement with adolescent boys through interactive sessions on gender equality, child marriage, and domestic violence.
- School enrolment campaigns to reduce dropout rates and encourage continued education, especially for girls.
- Sports for development initiatives to instill teamwork, confidence, and leadership.
- Parent and community meetings to raise awareness on the harmful impacts of child marriage and to empower families, especially mothers, to support education and delay marriage.
- Home visits for personalized counseling with families of enrolled adolescents.
- Baseline and endline surveys to generate evidence, track progress, and strengthen community-led advocacy against child marriage.
Through these multifaceted activities, the program creates a supportive ecosystem where adolescents, families, and communities work together to shift norms, strengthen education, and foster youth leadership.
Objectives
The program seeks to achieve the following key objectives:
- Eliminate child marriage by addressing its root causes, shifting harmful social norms, and empowering adolescents to resist early marriage.
- Empower adolescents, particularly girls, with life skills, digital literacy, education, and leadership opportunities through safe and inclusive ARCs.
- Engage adolescent boys as allies and change-makers in promoting gender equality and preventing violence and discrimination.
- Promote education by reducing dropout rates, facilitating school re-enrolment, and sensitizing families and communities to the importance of continued education.
- Mobilize communities through campaigns, dialogues, and participatory platforms to create collective accountability for adolescent rights.
- Strengthen parental support, especially mothers, to delay marriage and prioritize the health, education, and aspirations of their children.
- Build evidence and networks through baseline surveys, monitoring, and partnerships to influence regional and national advocacy on child marriage prevention.
