Child marriages

Name of article:  Child marriages

Name of publication: Television Of Mozambique

Country: Mozambique

Theme: Human Rights

Synopsishttps://genderlinks.org.za/wp-admin/post-new.php

Brief description of the item of work you submitted and motivation of why it is a good example of gender awareness and sensitivity in advancing gender equality Post-2015.

We must end gender inequalities to end early marriages. I intend to contribute to ending gender inequalities In developing countries, one in three children were married before 18 years of age indicates the UNICEF report 2014 Mozambique ranks with 52% of girls. In Southern Africa, Mozambique ranks second, just behind Malawi. Several reasons are cited as causes of early marriages,from poverty, culture and gender inequalities.

Unfortunately, there is little research that can help us better understand this phenomenon. Jangamo, is one of the districts in Inhambane province in southern Mozambique Region with a 1.294Km² surface, a population of 93,681 and a population density of 72.4 inhabitants / km², according to the 2007 Census preliminary results. This district is one of those affected by this phenomenon where the local education sector, reported 28 cases of early marriages with minors under 15 years of age recorded in 2014.

Background

Why did you produce the story? What problem or context is it responding to?

We went to Jangamo district, to understand more about early marriages. When speaking of early marriages, looking-for adult men who were married with children. In this documentary we showed another reality. Many of the cases that happen, are teenage boys who marry children.

Married with children, it is no problem for most teenage boys in Jangamo district. For them, from the moment the girl has breasts, it is ready to engage with men and therefore to marry. Girls in Jangamo are forced to marry when they become pregnant. For boys, the girl’s pregnancy is synonymous with pride and victory in a district where competition for scoring the most beautiful girl is strong. So when she gets pregnant, automatically marries him.

Apart from that, this is one way to prove his masculinity. We wanted to advocate for the strategies to combat early marriages also consider teenage boys. Teenage boys, being part of the problem, should be involved as part of the solution.

Key objectives

What did you hope to achieve with this coverage?

Advocating for the inclusion of adolescent boys in strategies to combat early marriages in Mozambique

Targets audience

Who did you hope to reach? Did you succeed in reaching this audience? What evidence do you have to that effect?

Target groups: Government and Civil Society Organizations

We achieved these objectives: The National Strategy to Combat Early Marriages already includes the involvement of adolescent boys; the civil society organizations have held a conference Boys Teenager on early marriages

How did you go about producing the programme?

How did you gather the data, how many sources, female and male did you consult? Why did you choose these sources and how were their voices important?

We conducted individual interviews with men, women, boys, girls, local governments and community leaders including religious leaders in communities, schools, government institutions. Also, we conducted interviews with fathers, mothers, boys and girls involved in early marriages We conducted focus groups with men, women and others with boys and girls. These sources are important for understanding the problematic of early marriages and also to realize that measures are being taken to stop early marriages

Feedback

What impact did it have? What evidence do you have to illustrate impact?

Please provide any examples of feedback that you received from the articles (from websites, letters, etc.)

The National Strategy to Combat Early marriage is new however, that include the involvement of adolescent boys is for us very positive

The Boys conference on early marriages organized by civil society organizations is also recent.

Attach all relevant feedback documentation here:

Follow up

How would you conduct a follow up to your story and why?

We continue to follow up on this subject to monitoring to effective implementation of the national strategy