Child Marriage in Nepal
and
Community-Based Interventions
Brigitte Sonnois
DESCRIPTION OF THE CHALLENGE
Problem description
• Origin: Hindu scriptures. Brahmin class.
• Prevalence: 63%<under 18; 7%<under 10
(year?). 24 out of 60 ethnic groups 25%
population (1996)
• Factors: religious (heaven/hell); socio-cultural
(gender); economic (dowry)
• Consequences: health, education, overall child
development
• Legislation: 18/21; 16/18 parental consent
Theoretical analysis
• “I was 12 years old when I got married . What is wrong with
that ?” : Personal normative belief: right thing to do.
• “Everybody gets married early around here” Empirical
expectation: everybody is doing it. SOCIAL NORM
• Normative expectation: other people expect me to do so
• Sanctions: no late marriage or high dowry, ostracization
• Script: will go to heaven, daughter will marry, dowry will be
lower
• Pluralistic ignorance: some children/youth do not want to
get married early
• Legal vs social norms: inconsistency; no enforcement. Legal
sanction only once a critical mass has stopped
Comparison with course case study
Similarities with FGM/C
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Introduced by higher class long ago
Related to marriageability of the girl/purity issue
Change depends on whole intra-marrying network
Human rights: Gender/Women´s and Children´s
Physical and psychological/emotional harm
Differences with FGM/C
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Religious rule
Economic implications: dowry
Caste system
Visibility: marriages are public, so people can see the
change
Desired outcomes
Final outcome: The practice of child marriage is
abandoned
Intermediate outcomes
• A critical mass of people believe that early marriage is
wrong
• A critical mass of people believe that other people think
the same way and start talking
• A critical mass of people believe/see that others stop
marrying their daughter early
• For this to happen, there must be common knowledge in
the intra-marrying network that a critical mass of people is
abandoning the practice.
CRITICAL EVALUATION OF WORK SO FAR
Description
• No specific programme on the issue
• Decentralized Action for Children and Women
(DACAW): HR based, integrated community
development: participation, Triple A, community
organization/empowerment/capacity building (CAP
approach) + services, local government, policy
• Para Legal Committees (PLC): community-based child
protection mechanism: prevention, casework: early
detection, response/referral, monitoring/reporting
• Child Clubs: advocacy child rights/agents for change
Community work on child marriage
• PLC and Child Clubs work on this issue among
many other child protection issues and PLC
also GBV issues.
• Prevention: sensitization sessions; door-todoor campaign during “marriage season”
• Casework: when child/sibling reports to PLC,
negotiation with parents
• Results: 2004: 121 out of 840 cases reported
(solved ?). National level: 3 cases reported.
Course features already integrated
Features from various FGM/C abandonment experiences
(G.Mackie)
• Holistic programme, more credible because it addresses a
variety of concerns (DACAW)
• Awareness-raising about fundamental norm “do not harm
your child” (PLC)
Features from TOSTAN programme
• Human rights based approach
• Community empowerment, capacity building, participation,
organization
• Community self-assessment, problem analysis, planning
and monitoring
Course features not integrated yet
“In order to realize long-lasting positive changes,
PLC´s challenge the community and its nonprotective practices in public and private
forums: ´You have 2 choices: either to continue
old practices that may hurt children and
women, or stop harm today. If you know the
negative consequences of your action, why not
stop today ?” (Programme Information Kit)
Course features not integrated yet
Theoretical
• Problem treated exclusively as an issue of personal belief and
the approach only addresses individual behaviour change
• Social dimension, i.e. normative and empiriral expectations,
role of social networks, pluralistic ignorance, are not taken
into account
• Only the negative aspect of the issue is presented: there is no
re-categorization/re-scripting of the situation in a positive way
Methodological
• Lack of involvement of men and of “influencers”
• Lack of linkages between human rights and local values
• Lack of facilitation skills of community workers
SUGGESTED CHANGES
Proposed new strategy
• Research on (i) reasons, beliefs, expectations,
“silent dissidents”; (ii) information channels,
social networks, in particular intra-marrying,
“influencers”
• Work with “influencers” and “silent dissidents”
on new script/positive re-categorization of
situation and communication strategies (e.g.
community deliberation, decision, commitment,
organized difusion, public declaration)
Integration of new strategy into existing
programme
DACAW: Proposed changes will have a positive
impact on a wide range of issues
• Revise Community Action Process (CAP) so that
HR are grounded in community daily life
experience (TOSTAN curriculum Year 1)
• Revise strategies for implementation of CAP and
dissemination of KAP, to ensure role of
influencers and adequate participation of whole
community (adults/adolescents, women/men,
higher/lower castes)
Integration of new strategy into existing
programme
Paralegal Committees and Child Clubs
Proposed changes will have an impact on child marriage
and the methodology could be used to work on other social
norms
• Revise composition of PLC to include influencers and more
men
• Design/implement a training module for PLC and Child Club
members on how to work on the issue of child marriage
(messages and methodology: e.g. community deliberation,
decision, commitment, organized diffusion, public
declaration)
• Involve PLC´s and Child Clubs from intra-marrying
communities together, e.g. organize joint training/meetings
• Explore the possibility of working on the
abandonment of dowry at the same time,
because the 2 issues are so linked