Breaking the chains of too early marriage

Concern about the place of early marriage in a chain of adverse effects that transplants children from rural Ethiopia into the sex industry is the basis of a potential collaboration between the Research Unit and the NGOs ChildHope and Chad-Et.

Unit researchers Michael Little and Dwan Kaoukji are in the capital Addis Ababa, this week, with ChildHope’s director Emma Crewe to discuss the scope for an experimental evaluation of a community intervention to reduce child prostitution.

The Unit is proposing translating a baseline survey into an experimental evaluation comparing outcomes in communities receiving the intervention with those in a randomly selected control group.

CHAD-Et, ChildHope’s partner organization in Ethiopia, works in three areas of Addis Ababa where around 5,000 children are at risk of sexual exploitation and others are living and working on the streets.

Evidence collected on their behalf suggests that early marriage too often displaces children and puts them at risk.

If early marriages fail, children feel too ashamed to go back to their families. Typically, they take low grade employment in nearby towns. Often they are subject to abuse. And when they run away from poor situations, they are easy prey for pimps.

Children send money home from Addis and, from the perspective of family members, the arrangement may seem beneficial.

The intervention seeks to raise awareness in rural communities. It includes a series of ‘community conversations’ about ways of reducing the incidence of early marriage and the associated risks.

• Michael Little will be running in next year’s Liverpool Hall Marathon on behalf of Chad-Et and ChildHope.