Project report
Accelerating action to end child marriage in Bangladesh
Sajeda Amin, Jyotirmoy Saha, Masuma Billah, Nargis Sultana, Eashita Haque et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001The Population Council, working with UNFPA and Bangladesh's Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, is implementing a project to end child marriage by building girls' skills and engaging communities to shift the social norms that drive the practice. This report describes a baseline study conducted to establish benchmark indicators and understand the status of adolescents in the project area before the intervention begins. The baseline data reveal differences in adolescents' social lives based on marital status, education level, and age. The findings are intended to guide the design of intervention strategies and inform future policy.
Key points
- Child marriage remains widespread despite Bangladesh's social and economic progress
- The intervention aims to empower girls with gender, life, and livelihood skills
- Community engagement is planned to address normative drivers of child marriage
- Baseline study established indicators to measure change at endline
- Data show variation in adolescents' social circumstances by marital status, education, and age
Limitations
This is a baseline report that describes the study design and initial findings but does not evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention itself. The document does not provide outcome data on whether the intervention actually reduced child marriage or changed community norms.
Abstract
Despite considerable social and economic progress in Bangladesh, child marriage remains the norm. The Population Council is partnering with UNFPA and the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs to empower girls with gender, life, and livelihood skills, and to engage communities to address fundamental normative drivers of child marriage. The objective of the baseline study is to generate a set of indicators against which change can be measured, and to provide specific information about the status of adolescents in the study area in ways that can guide intervention strategies and inform programs and policies. Baseline findings will provide a benchmark against which changes resulting from the intervention may be measured at the endline period and will identify themes in need of further exploration through qualitative research. Overall, the data reveal important contrasts in the social lives of adolescents by marital status, education, and age. The report notes several findings that may inform program strategies and are worth considering in the design of interventions.