Multidimensional Empowerment in Child Marriage Interventions : A study of four Sub-Saharan African cases

Abstract: Child marriage constitutes one of the currently biggest obstacles to gender equality and human development. As the practice has gained more attention in the international arena within the past two decades, a number of evaluations have been produced. These are mainly characterized by quantitative and linear assessments of the impact of child marriage interventions. This thesis considers the role of empowerment by applying the theoretical framework of Naila Kabeer to child marriage interventions. The purpose is to critically review the impact of employed methods. Through a collective case study, four programs in Malawi, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Ethiopia are examined.   The interventions cover different methods of child marriage prevention, or a combination of them. These include education, economic incentives, empowerment and community conversations. However, using only one of the approaches is typically not enough to create long-term change in the lives of at-risk and already married girls. As child marriage is a product of cultural complexity, the most successful interventions are those able to target all dimensions relating to empowerment as choice-making: resources, agency and achievements. Such is the case for the programs in both Uganda and Ethiopia. Whilst the studied interventions have provided different resources needed to strengthen the vulnerability of adolescent girls, this improved access does not guarantee a change of agency. By additionally mobilizing the communities which sustain the normative underpinning of the practice, the possibility of impacts beyond the duration of interventions is increased. Only then are other and new achievements possible, which are crucial to disrupting the cultural logic of the practice for future generations and avoid a sense of informed powerlessness for the current ones.