Peer-reviewed article
Setting research priorities for prevention and response to child marriage in communities in the Arab region: findings from a multi-stage Delphi study involving practitioners across the region.
Metzler J, Hutchinson A, Kiss K ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study asked 73 child protection specialists across the Arab region to identify research priorities for preventing and ending child marriage. Using an online consultation process over two years, participants identified 50 research gaps and reached strong agreement on 23 of them. Key priorities included producing more evidence for programme development and researching the specific drivers and consequences of child marriage, though there was less consensus on how research can support legal and policy responses.
Key points
- 73 specialists from the Arab region participated in a multi-stage Delphi consultation between July 2019 and December 2021
- Participants identified 50 research gaps across 7 main areas, with high consensus support for 23 statements
- Strong agreement reached on the need to produce and use evidence to support programme development
- Research priorities include understanding specific drivers and consequences of child marriage
- Least consensus found on how research can inform prevention and response efforts within legal systems
Limitations
This document identifies research priorities rather than evaluating any intervention, so it cannot tell us what actually works to prevent or respond to child marriage. The study captures expert opinion from a self-selected group of 73 practitioners and may not represent all perspectives or populations across the Arab region.
Abstract
Globally, more than 12 million girls under the age of 18 are forced to marry every year. Progress on ending child marriage in the Arab region is slowing, and risks being reversed, due to an increase in conflict-affected populations and widespread economic crisis. The aim of this paper is to consider the research priorities across the region to inform effective and accelerated child marriage prevention and response programming within the Arab region. Seventy-three specialists supporting child marriage prevention and response programming in the Arab region engaged with up to three phases of an online Delphi consultation process on research gaps and the research environment between July 2019 and December 2021. Proposals of research gaps were elicited, reviewed, and rated by participants to confirm a shared learning agenda. Participants identified 50 different research gaps across 7 main areas, reaching a high level of consensus support for 23 of 50 statements. Clear consensus was reached in relation to an increased need to produce and use evidence to support programme development, and further research on specific drivers and consequences of child marriage. The least consensus was found in relation to how research can inform prevention and response efforts within the law and legal system. The results provide the foundation of a child marriage research agenda for the Arab region which takes into account regional distinctiveness and builds on the global momentum for child marriage research. Mechanisms are in place to do this through the Regional Action Forum, and other networks across the region.