A presentation by Workneh Yadete to officials in Debrezeit, Ethiopia, February 2021

1. February 10, 2021
Evidence for elimination: taking aim at
child marriage and FGM/C
Adolescents from girls’ club in secondary school © Nathalie Bertrams / GAGE 2020

2. Outline of Presentation
1
• Objectives and learning
2
• Key survey themes
3
•Proposed methodology
4
•Proposed classification system
5
•Proposed logistics and time investments
6
•Critical questions to discuss

3. 1
•Objectives and learning
Women and Children Bureau expert in Dire Dawa, Ethiopia © Nathalie Bertrams/GAGE 2020

4. Objectives of the research
•Tools have been developed and piloted by GAGE.
Tools build on previous evidence from MOWCY and MoH.
Tools triangulate perspectives from different stakeholders at different levels.
Tools are engaging for participants.
Verify woredas’ and kebeles’ readiness to eliminate child marriage and FGM/C.

5. GAGE Ethiopia research sites
 GAGE Main research sites –
3 regions:
• South Gondar - Amhara,
• East Haraghe - Oromia,
• Zone 5 – Afar
• and Dire Dawa City
Administration
 HTP Pilot sites:
• South Gondar and ZONE 5- Afar

6. Stakeholders
1
• Woreda and regional officials – BOWCY, Justice, Education, Health
2
• Kebele officials – kebele manager/chairperson, security, women’s affairs, youth
3
• School principals, teachers, and girls’ club coordinators
4
• Health extension workers
5
• Community and Religious leaders (woreda and kebele levels)
6
• Adolescents girls (married and unmarried) and boys
7
• Parents (fathers and mothers)

7. Reflections from our pilot
Regional Woreda
 Tools should focus on regional
policies, action plans and
budget resourcing in order to
provide context.
 Regional experts can also
support with providing reports
on education completion and
dropout per grade, reporting on
child marriage, resource
allocation.
 Tools should be revised to focus on
progress of sectors in implementing
regional action plans and remaining gaps.
 Woreda experts can reflect on awareness-
raising efforts per kebele and on response
to reported cases.
 Woreda overview can help contextualise
how to understand focal kebeles – e.g.
typical, outlier etc..
 Knowledge about and progress on child
marriage is better than FGM/C.

8. Reflections from our pilot - kebeles
• Kebeles are very different from one another—even in the same woreda.
• Progress is overall slow, with practices open in some areas, hidden in others.
• Changes in the age at marriage and the type of FGM/C are more notable than movement
towards eradication.
• Education statics per grade per gender highlight adolescents’ options—given that marriage and
schooling are usually two ends of the spectrum-- and should be collected first.
• Educators often face stiff resistance but are the major change agents in most communities.
• HEWs raise awareness of the health risks of child marriage and FGM/C.
• Militia/security officers provide insights on what actions are taken in terms of prevention and
punishment.
• Mothers are often vested in child marriage and FGM/C—but fathers are the main deciders
regarding arranged marriage.
• Triangulating views of parents and teens helps find the “truth” as well as captures change vs
stasis.
• Community and religious leaders can help explain the power and influences that community
level institutions play to bring/halt expected changes.

9. 2
•Key survey themes
Group of girls, Ethiopia © Nathalie Bertrams / GAGE 2020

10. Who? When? Where?
 What is your role?
 How old are you?
 Are you male or
female?
 What is your
education?
 When do you think girls
should marry? What’s too
early? What’s too late?
 When do you think boys
should marry? What’s too
early? What’s too late?
 Do you think girls should be
cut?
 Have your beliefs changed?
 How accessible are schools?
 Who goes to school? For how
long?
 How laborious/ time intensive is
water collection?
 Is the community electrified?
 How accessible in the nearest
town?
 What is the dominant religion?
 How common is food insecurity?

11. Knowledge Practice Beliefs
 How common is it for
local adults and
adolescents to know
the law regarding
marriage age?
 Regarding FGM/C?
 How fast is knowledge
changing?
 How often do girls here marry
before 18? Before 15?
 Which girls are the most at risk of
marriage by 15? 18?
 What advantages do adults and
teens see to early marriage?
 How do child marriages take
place?
 What about boys? How at risk are
they?
 How common is FGM/C?
 What type is practiced? When? By
whom?
 Can girls marry if they are not cut?
 How has incidence and practice
changed in the last five years?
 When do people believe
girls should marry?
 What age girls do they
believe are left
unmarried?
 What about boys?
 How common is it for
people to believe that
girls should be cut?
 How fast are beliefs
changing?
COVID
How has the pandemic
shifted practices in the
last year?

12. Existent efforts towards eradication
•Is there a way
to report plans
for marriage or
FGM/C?
Anonymously?
Is anyone
working to
create change?
Who? How
hard?
Are practices
going
“underground”
and becoming
hidden?
What messages
and venues are
already being
used to create
change?
Are violators
sanctioned?
How?
Is anyone
working to
prevent change?
Who?
How “strong” is
local capacity?
What records
are kept?

13. Needed efforts for eradication
An adolescent mother, Ethiopia © Nathalie Bertrams /
GAGE 2020
 What messages and
interventions would help
this community end child
marriage?
 What messages and
interventions would help
this community end
FGM/C?

14. Readiness to eradicate
1
• Are you aware of the Roadmap? How could you contribute to
implementation?
2
• How ready is this community to end child marriage for girls under 15? For
girls under 18?
3
• How ready is this community to end FGM/C?

15. 3
•Proposed methodology
Adolescent girl, Ethiopia © Nathalie Bertrams / GAGE 2020

16. Sample
3 kebeles each
10 special woreda (2 in specials)
(6 in specific locations)
Total = 260 kebeles
72 zones
Woreda level:
WCYA Education Justice Health Religious Council
Kebele level:
administrators educators HEWs Women’s Association militia/security
religious leaders youth leaders parents adolescents
Regional level:
WCYA Education Health Justice

17. Tablet-based surveys….
 Surveys will be completed on tablets or phones.
 Interviewers will read questions to respondents in
the local language.
 Respondents will choose their answers based on
picture cards.
 Interviewers will enter respondents’ answers into
the survey.
 Interviewers will collect administrative data
related to child marriage, FGM/C, and school
enrolment from kebele administrators, HEWs, and
school officials.

18. ….Paired with easy to “read” cards
How common? How fast?

19. Gaging capacity
We are interested in gaging local capacity to create change—in a careful way.
Road Map:
The drivers of child marriage and FGM/C are multi dimensional,
and the National Roadmap therefore requires multi-sectoral
interventions, underpinned by well-coordinated responses from
various actors.
The National Roadmap identifies five pillar strategies around
which to coordinate efforts, in order to achieve the goals of
eliminating child marriage and FGM/C:
1. Empowering adolescent girls and their families;
2. Community engagement (including faith and traditional
leaders);
3. Enhancing systems, accountability and services across sectors;
4. Creating and strengthening an enabling environment;
5. Increasing data and evidence generation, and use.
Read aloud
Answer
Given your role, what
are the top three ways
you can contribute to
ending child marriage
and FGM/C?
Tap

20. Health worker, Ethiopia © Nathalie Bertrams / GAGE 2020
4
•Proposed classification
system

21. Ready set go!
Health worker, Amhara © Nathalie Bertrams /GAGE 2020
Entrenched—will take significant
effort to begin making progress
First signs of change—but from a
low base and slow
Gradual progress over time
Significant progress thus far—
need to maintain trajectory
Eradicated/abandoned

22. ENTRENCHED VS. GOOD PROGRESS
 Knowledge of the law is nil or rare
 Child marriage is very common
 Recent progress is nil or backwards
 The ideal age of marriage is under 18
 It is very common for adults & adolescents to
believe that girls should marry by 18
 No actor is working to end child marriage
 Any actor is working against ending child marriage
 Community discussions about child marriage are
non-existent
 No reporting/ age assessments/sanctions
 Self-rated unlikely/ not possible to eradicate soon
 No full cycle primary school
 Town/secondary school distant
 Limited local capacity/ no records kept
 Knowledge of the law is common/ very common
 Child marriage is unusual/rare
 Recent progress is fast
 The ideal age of marriage is over 18
 It is rare/unusual for adults & adolescents to
believe that girls should marry by 18
 Several actors working to end child marriage
 No actor working against ending child marriage
 Community discussions about child marriage are
common
 Reporting/ age assessments/ sanctions in place
 Self-rated almost certain to eradicate soon
 Town/secondary school easily accessible
 Good local capacity/ records kept

23. 5
•Logistics
Adolescent school girl, Ethiopia © Nathalie Bertrams / GAGE 2020

24. Kebele selection
 This “map” shows how we
propose to select kebeles for
inclusion.
 As noted previously, we
anticipate that each zone will
have at least one kebele that has
declared itself free of child
marriage and FGM/C.
 If under 50 zones meet the
inclusion criteria, we can sample
more kebeles to compensate, if
desired.

25. Teams and timing
 Interviewers will be officers at zonal level Offices of WCY (or Education and
Health as necessary).
• Interviewers will work in their own region, to account for differences in language and
culture.
• Interviewers will not work in their own zone, to promote objectivity.
 Teams will be 3 people—each with its own leader.
 Teams will be mixed gender, so that women can interview females and men can
interview males.
A 3-person mixed-gender team could complete
each kebele in 2 days, each zone in four days.
 16-18 interviews per kebele
 2 hours per interview
 3 interviews per day/person
Team leads will be responsible
for collecting/copying
administrative data/records.

26. Training
Regional training by GAGE—one day/ region to train zonal team
leads to prepare them to train their colleagues.
Care will be taken to establish appropriate vocabulary to elicit
good data:
• Is it better to call FGM/C “circumcision” versus “cutting”?
• Is it better to use “child marriage” or “early marriage”?
• What actors are available where and what are they called? (e.g.
Women’s Development Army, HTP committee, social court, etc.)
Zonal training—one day/ zone for zonal team leads to train their
3-person teams

27. 6
•Questions?
Young married couple, Ethiopia © Nathalie Bertrams / GAGE 2020

28. About GAGE
WEBSITE: www.gage.odi.org
TWITTER: @GAGE_programme
FACEBOOK: GenderandAdolescence
 Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence
(GAGE) is a nine-year (2015-2024) mixed-
methods longitudinal research programme
focused on what works to support
adolescent girls’ and boys’ capabilities in
the second decade of life and beyond.
 We are following the lives of 20,000
adolescents in six focal countries in Africa,
Asia and the Middle East.
GAGE publications:
www.gage.odi.org/publications/