Empowering families to end child marriage in Sierra Leone

Kambia – “Before this time, I never knew how to take care of myself even when I experience menstruation, but now, all of us have knowledge of this,” said 16-year-old Kadiatu Kamara as she leads a discussion in one of the Safe Spaces and Life Skills sessions for adolescent girls in Bamoi Luma, Kambia District in Sierra Leone.

Kadiatu is a tenth-grade pupil at the Children’s Welfare Secondary School in her community. She is among nearly 3,000 adolescent girls in seven communities in Kambia District who are being supported in the Cash+ programme for the prevention of child marriage and teenage pregnancy.

Sierra Leone has one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancy and child marriage in Africa, where 2 in 10 girls between the ages of 15 and 19 have started childbearing, and 3 in 10 under the age of 18 are already married.

To tackle those challenges, UNICEF, in collaboration with key government and civil society partners, have developed a Cash+ model leveraging social protection to help prevent child marriage and teenage pregnancy. The model builds on the solid foundations already laid by the Global Programme to End Child Marriage (GPECM), which has been implemented in Sierra Leone since 2016.

The Cash+ programme is funded by the German National Committee for UNICEF and the Global Programme to End Child Marriage and is implemented by UNICEF Sierra Leone in partnership with the National Commission for Social Action, the Ministry of Gender and Children’s Affairs, the Ministry of Social Welfare, and ActionAid Sierra Leone.

The Cash+ programme integrates cash support to families with programmes to empower adolescents and their parents, as well as programmes to engage their communities. Adolescent girls will benefit from quarterly cash transfers over the course of one year, which will help meet their essential needs. In addition to financial support, girls, their caregivers, and communities will participate in empowerment sessions, including life skills for adolescent girls and social and behaviour change activities such as positive parenting, engaging with men and boys, intergenerational dialogue, and management to prevent school absenteeism as a part of the GPECM.

“I and my colleagues have now each received the first payment of NLE 360 ($15) as cash support to augment our daily needs such as school books and stationeries, lunch and transportation fares to and from school,” expressed a delighted Kadiatu as she displayed some of the books she bought with the cash support she received.

Piloting the Cash+ model in Kambia District, which has higher-than-average rates of teenage pregnancy (28 per cent) and child marriage (35 per cent), will enable reaching vulnerable adolescent girls like Kadiatu with immediate cash support while also providing an opportunity to test how programmes and services can be integrated into one cohesive programme to address child marriage and teenage pregnancy.

“Providing cash support to adolescent girls helps them cover daily expenses related to education and transport, which mitigates the risk that they will be exposed to exploitation and abuse. This programme also acknowledges the socio-ecological context of adolescents, and employs a whole-community approach to address the challenges they face, including access to life skills to strengthen personal agency and community cohesion,” said Mona Korsgard, UNICEF Chief of Social Policy.

Kadiatu, who, before being enrolled in the Cash+ programme, used to walk to school where she faced a lot of harassments from men and boys who wanted to take advantage of her by giving her a ride to school on their motorbikes, now avoids these obstacles as she is empowered with knowledge, skills and some cash to tackle these challenges and get to school safely.

Her mother, Aminata Kamara, also testifies to the difference the programme has made in their relationship. “Before the positive parenting sessions, I often shouted at Kadiatu when she made mistakes, and we hardly talked about her challenges,” Aminata explained. “Now, I listen to her more, we discuss openly, and I have learned how to guide her without fear or harshness. This programme has brought peace in our home and strengthened the bond between us.”

“I feel so empowered and fulfilled!” exclaimed Kadiatu. “The mentoring sessions, life skills, and positive parenting programme are all contributing to transforming my life as I have gained self-awareness and am now in a position to make good and reasonable decisions on issues that directly affect my life,” she said. “I feel so confident and bold to the extent that I now coach other girls in my community so that they too could also stand up for their rights and demand them,” she added as she beamed with smiles.

The programme goes beyond economic relief. It takes a holistic, community-driven approach to tackle the root causes of early marriage and teenage pregnancy, empowering girls and supporting families to build a safer, more promising future for adolescent girls like Kadiatu in Sierra Leone.