The Situation of Girls Rescued from Child Marriage in Amha .... Region: the Case of Hamusit kebele of De .... Woreda, South Gondar Zone
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Date
2016-05
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Child marriage is among the commonly practiced harmful traditions which causes multidimensional
impact on girls in particu lar, fam ilies and communilies in general. The practice
is high ly preva lent in Amhara region as compared to other regions and the rate is higher than
the nat ional average. The prevalence of chi ld marriage in the region and its median age is
44.8% and 14 years of age for girl s which is close to double of the national rate (23.4%). This
study has explored the situation of girls rescued from child marriage in Hamusit kebele of
Dera Woreda focu sing on their experiences, nature of support needs and relevance of existing
interventions and to come up with workable so lutions which help to improve conditions for
gi rl s. Qua litative study design and case study approach is employed to ensure in-depth
understanding of the research participants are selected using purposive sampling based on
defined inclus ion criteria focusing mainl y on girls rescued from child marriage at-least
before one year, those attending school at the time of the study and willingness to participate
in th e study. In-depth interview focus group discussion and observation were used to collect
as well as triangulate the data. Data was co llected girls, parents, teachers and members of the
school administration, other stakeholders such as Police, Health facility, Hamusit town
council, o era Woreda Women, Children and Youth Affair Office. The findings of the study
shows that informants believe that child marriage in 'the study areas has shown improvement
in terms of consult ing girls in the decis ion which was not the case before and the age of
marriage raised from as low as 3 to 10 years to 12 to 15 years yet below the legal minimum
age of marriage. Add it io nally, expression of willingness at this age cannot be regarded as full
consent. The improvement is attributed to the school based and community interventions
implemented in the study area which include community mobi lization to raise awareness
about the negative consequences of child marriage, cance llation of child marriage
arrangements with the involvement of school community members and other stakeho lders.
Nevel1he less, the practice has widely continued in the community which put girls rescued
ITom child marriage in difficult situation as they ,are considered as deviants from the
mainstream va lue of the community and interest of the respect ive family. As a result, those
girls rescued from child marriage with the support from external intervention face multidimens
iona l cha llenges including a lienation and stigma, verbal abuse such as insult, denial of
basic necess ities like c loth, school materials, fully engaging them with household chores
which leaves them no time for study which in turn contrib utes to girls low performance
consequently perpetuates the low va lue attached to g irls education. In add ition, programs
aimed at reducing child marriage have not given due emphas is to the importance of follow-up
on the situation of g irls rescued ITom child marriage and the need for provision of the
necessary support to girls to enable them deal with their context which urges them to endure
constant struggle with their family and community members on dai ly basis. Therefore, further
examining th e situation for better understanding, ensuring comprehensiveness of programing
and advocacy effo rts as well as revisiting strategies in place to curb child marriage are major
implicat ions of this study.
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Keywords
Situation of Girls Rescued from Child Marriage