Peer-reviewed article
Ending child marriages through young people’s movement building: the case of community champions in Mutasa District, Zimbabwe
Mildred Tambudzai Mushunje, Hamida Ismail-Mauto, Raymond Mazhambe ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This peer-reviewed article examines an intervention by Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) Africa Trust in Zimbabwe to end child marriages through community champions and young people's movement building in Mutasa District. The organization works to empower adolescent girls and young women by raising awareness and advocating with decision-makers to reduce self-stigma and combat child sexual exploitation. The article discusses the intervention's approach and highlights the potential role of social workers in partnering with NGOs to address child marriage.
Key points
- The intervention uses community champions to build young people's movements against child marriage
- The organization focuses on empowering adolescent girls and young women to define their own needs
- Awareness raising and direct advocacy with key decision-makers are core intervention strategies
- Reducing self-stigma among adolescents is identified as important for realizing their full potential
- The article explores collaboration between social workers and NGOs in addressing child sexual exploitation
Limitations
The document is an abstract or introduction that does not provide detailed evaluation findings, outcome data, or specific results of the intervention. It is unclear what specific impacts the intervention achieved or how effectiveness was measured.
Abstract
Despite efforts made to promote gender equality in all spheres of life, women, especially young girls below the age of 18 years from marginalised African communities continue to face a plethora of challenges such as harmful practises and negative gender stereotypes which hinder them from realising their full potential. Included in these harmful practises is the abhorrent act of child sexual exploitation in the name of child marriages. There are several initiatives by different actors to end child marriages and Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) Africa Trust (SAT), Zimbabwe is one Civil Society Organisation (CSO) that has made significant strides in contributing towards ending child sexual exploitation. The organisation works to empower adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) to define their needs and undertakes various forms of advocacy including awareness raising and direct advocacy with key decision-makers. Interventions contribute to reducing self-stigma that disempowers adolescents and young people from realising their full potential. This article discusses an intervention that SAT has spearheaded in a bid to contribute to the end of child sexual exploitation and the role social workers can play to work with Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) such as SAT in ending child marriages. How to reference using ASWNet style: Mushunje, M., Ismail-Mauto, H. & Mazhambe R. (2024). Ending child marriages through young people’s movement building: the case of community champions in Mutasa District, Zimbabwe. African Journal of Social Work, 14(4), 207-216. https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/ajsw.v14i4.4 Visit journal website: https://ajsw.africasocialwork.net
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Community champions and young people's movement building for awareness raising and advocacy with decision-makers, combined with empowerment of adolescent girls and young women to define their needs
- Population
- Adolescent girls and young women in Mutasa District, Zimbabwe
Key finding
SAT has made significant strides in contributing towards ending child sexual exploitation
Mushunje et al. · OpenAlex · 31 Aug 2024