Rationale

In 2017, an evaluation conducted by the African Union Commission revealed that while significant progress had been achieved in advocating for and building capacities through the Ending Child Marriage Campaign, member states faced challenges in transitioning from campaign launch to actual implementation. Difficulties in developing cost-effective plans and establishing efficient coordination mechanisms hindered the campaign’s execution in numerous countries. Furthermore, the intensification of African Union and member state interventions to combat child marriage coincided with the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, posing unprecedented challenges to program implementation. The pandemic, along with its preventive measures, exacerbated vulnerabilities, potentially leading to a surge of up to 10 million child marriage cases by 2030 due to disruptions in education, socio-economic disparities, and heightened household poverty.