Joint UN program receives US$26.5M from Canada to continue work to end child marriages

RWANDA— The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and the United Nations Children’s Education Fund (UNICEF), joint program for adolescent sexual & reproductive health right (SRHR) to end child marriages by 2030, has received US$26.5 million from the Canadian government.

The new commitment from the Government of Canada will support the third phase of the UNFPA-UNICEF Global Programme to End Child Marriage until 2030.

This contribution comes at a critical time and will enable the partners to respond to an increasingly challenging world for girls.

Willibald Zeck, Sexual, and Reproductive Health Branch Chief UNFPA welcomed the contribution and commented that Canada has delivered for adolescent girls.

“Complications from pregnancy and childbirth kill more adolescent girls than any other cause. These funds will prevent the needless suffering of girls across the world and empower them to exercise bodily autonomy and become the architects of their future,” added Zeck.

The UNFPA-UNICEF Global Programme to End Child Marriage was launched in 2016 in twelve of the most high-prevalence or high-burden countries in the world.

The program promotes the rights of adolescent girls to avert marriage and pregnancy and enables them to achieve their aspirations through education, comprehensive sexuality education, and alternative pathways.

In 2022, the partners were able to reach 6.3 million girls providing them with life skills or comprehensive sexuality education, and 161,000 girls were supported to enroll and stay in school.

“We are at the mid-point on delivering on SDGs and we still need a lot to deliver on gender equality and more specifically on child marriage,” said Nankali Maksud, UNICEF Senior Child Protection Advisor & current coordinator for the Joint UN agency program.

 “We need to speed up progress to be nearly 20 times faster to reach the target of ending child marriage by 2030. The Canadian funding is a big step in that direction,” she added.

The program is an example of how the UN is coming together with partners like Canada to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals through broad-based partnerships with donors, Member States, and women-led, and youth-led organisations.

The Global Programme to End Child Marriage is generously supported by the Governments of Belgium, Canada, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and Zonta International.

The Canadian contribution will be focused on scaling up, accelerating, and adapting programs to an ever-changing environment caused by the different crises.

Is Ending Child Marriages by 2030, a far-fetched goal?

The UNFPA-UNICEF Global Programme to End Child Marriages reports that girls are facing various challenges caused by the intersecting crises of climate change, the aftermath of the global COVID-19 pandemic, and conflicts and natural disasters that drive even greater vulnerability.

According to the Joint Program, an estimated 640 million girls and women alive today were married in childhood.

Moreover, the program acknowledges that child marriage is often a precursor to early pregnancy.

In developing countries, girls who are married account for most adolescent births, and these early pregnancies pose serious health risks to girls whose bodies may not be developed enough for motherhood.

Furthermore, complications from pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death among girls between the ages of 15 and 19.

Unfortunately, while child marriage is declining, progress is not fast enough to reach the Sustainable Development Goal target of eliminating the practice by 2030.

UNFPA in 2022 noted that the drivers of child marriage by destroying livelihoods and education systems, increasing the risk of sexual violence, and spurring concerns for girls’ safety and family honor.

Overall, child marriage in situations of fragility is nearly two times higher than the world average. 

In 2019, the UNFPA released a joint study with Johns Hopkins University, in collaboration with Victoria University, the University of Washington, and Avenir Health, assessing the price tag to end child marriage in 68 countries that account for about 90 percent of cases.

Essentially, ending child marriage in these countries between 2020 – 2030, researchers concluded, would cost just US$35 billion.

The research concluded that ending child marriage, enabling girls to complete their educations, postpone motherhood, find gainful employment, and fulfill their potential, could generate billions of dollars in earnings and productivity.

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