Global stakeholders in girls child education and development have emphasized the urgent need for opportunities and choices towards adolescent girls as a critical strategy to delay child marriage and early childbirth.
In a webinar titled “Investing in Girls’ Choices: Baseline Insights on Delaying Marriage and First Birth in Niger and Nigeria,” development partners and researchers presented new evidence on interventions in support of vulnerable girls.
According to Maryam Abubakar of the Centre for Girls’ Education (CGE), Zaria, Kaduna State..
”Improving outcomes for girls requires more than just access to education; it must also expand real-life opportunities”.
She further noted that despite progress made, Northern Nigeria continues to face major challenges as “50 percent of girls still get married before age 18, and over 20 percent before age 15. And one-third of girls give birth before the age of 18,
However, these outcomes are driven not only by poverty but also by deeper systemic issues ebcause when education does not lead to learning or opportunity, early marriage and motherhood become rational alternatives for families.
To curb this trend, the Centre for Girl Child Education implemented the Pathways to Choice programme between 2018 and 2020 targeting out-of-school girls through academic support, life skills training, and community engagement.
The programme led to “an 80% decrease in the likelihood that girls were married two years after the intervention started,” while participants were “seven times more likely to be in school.”
Abubakra disclosed that the programme has now entered a new phase focused on scaling and improving cost effectiveness.
“We are no longer asking whether the model works. We are asking how to optimise it for scale,”
Emily Mangone of the Gates Foundation highlighted the urgency of addressing child marriage, citing alarming statistics across sub-Saharan Africa where 54% of girls experience sexual debut before the age of 16 and give birth by the age of 19. She advised that delaying early marriage is crucial for improving both the health and economic outcomes of the girl and her community.
Targeted investments could have significant impact, noting that spending $106 per girl could lead to “327 thousand fewer child marriages” and “383 thousand fewer adolescent pregnancies,” alongside strong economic returns.
Mahamadou Sanoussi Issa of CARE International discussed efforts to replicate Nigeria’s success in Niger through the Re IMAGINE programme, adapted to local conditions.
He revealed that in Niger’s Zinder Province, “87% of girls marry before the age of 18,” with many facing intense pressure from families and communities to leave school.
“Families and communities pressure girls to marry early to preserve family honour and status,”
Issa added that the programme is testing approaches such as engaging fathers, community leaders, and boys to help shift harmful social norms.
Luciana Leite of the Accelerate Research Hub University of Oxford highlighted the economic benefits of investing in girls as she pointed out that…
large-scale investments in programmes like those implemented by CGE could result in “healthier mothers and children, higher lifetime earnings, and strengthened economic growth,” offering strong returns on investment.
At the end of the webonar, participants agreed that while progress has been made, sustained investment, stronger community engagement, and supportive policies remain essential to ensure more girls can determine their own futures emphasising that combining education, mentorship, life skills training, and efforts to shift social norms continues to be the most effective approach to delaying early marriage and childbirth across the region.
Umm E Habiba,
Punjab, Pakistan.
