Towards a Co-created Civil Society Strategy to End Child Marriage in Tanzania: Tanzania End Child Marriage Network (TECMN) Co-creation Workshop
On 6-9 May, TECMN hosted a co-creation workshop with 45 civil society member participants to develop their multi-year programme.
Country Context
In Tanzania, 31% of girls are married before their 18th birthday and 5% are married before the age of 15. 4% of boys in Tanzania are married before the age of 18. The regions with the highest prevalence of child marriage in the country include Shinyanga (59%), followed by Tabora (58%), Mara (55%), Dodoma (51%) and Lindi (48%). Rates are lowest in Iringa 8% and Dar es Salaam 19%. In rural areas on the border with Kenya (Mara region), some girls reportedly marry as young as 11.
While the Tanzanian legislature has passed several laws and policies relating to the protection of women and children, some of these laws contradict each other. Most importantly, the 1971 Law of Marriage Act sets the minimum marriage age with parental consent at 15 for girls and 18 for boys. Discriminatory laws and policies such as this, with differential treatment based on gender, seriously undermine girls’ fundamental rights to equality, dignity, and access to education.
About Tanzania End Child Marriage Network (TECMN):
Established in 2012, the Tanzania Ending Child Marriage Network (TECMN) is composed of 87 members. TECMN has been instrumental in providing expertise to the Government on the development of the National Plan of Action to End Violence against Women and Children and engaging the media, which led to a national debate on the re-entry policy of pregnant girls into education. TECMN remains active in advocating for the change of the Marriage Act.
To further enhance the impact of TECMN’s work, TECMN is designing a co-created, multi-year programme of action that maximises the Coalition’s potential to share and develop strategies to strengthen the impact of the financial investment from Girls Not Brides.
TECMN walking the journey from inception in 2012 to 2024. The milestones, wins and challenges were highlighted on the journey.
Objectives of the Co-Creation Workshop
On 6-9 May, TECMN hosted a co-creation workshop with 45 civil society member participants to develop their multi-year programme. Through innovative strategy development and skills-building, TECMN will:
- Develop TECMN’s Advocacy Strategy to reflect an articulated vision of what it wishes to accomplish in the short term (3 years) and long term (5 years) and the road map to get there (this will be the base for future project design and fundraising).
- Design a 3-year project plan through the co-creation process with the members of TECMN.
- Strengthen the knowledge, capacities, and skills of members on what works to end child marriage, project design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
- Guide the Integration of Gender Transformative Approaches in Programme Strategy planning and design.
Next steps:
“This has been an important process for us, and the workshop sessions and the co-creation process have been great for our network! Our capacities and collective action have been strengthened. The co-creation process has been useful for both CBOs and INGOs as INGO staff tend to find systems in place and now, they have had an opportunity to walk the journey of collectively developing and designing projects and co-creating this with the global secretariat.”
Koshuma Mtengeti, ED Children Dignity Forum.
TECMN will put together a technical working group to finalise the strategy, incorporating the priorities from the co-creation workshop.
En el tiempo que has tardado en leer este artículo 31 niñas menores de 18 años se han casado
Cada año, 12 millones de niñas se casan antes de los 18 años.
Es decir, 23 niñas cada minuto.
Casi 1 cada 3 segundos.