Economic Support

In developing countries including Ethiopia, poverty has been one of the key drivers of child marriage. Addressing the underpinning economic problems and accelerate changes in social norm through the provision of economic incentives (EI) should, therefore, be part of the intervention embarked to end the practice of child marriage permanently.

The Economic Incentives for girls and their caregivers for girls at high risk of child marriage works well to increase girls’ and boys’ enrolment and retention in school and prevent the recurrent school dropout attributed to poor economic background. The economic incentive support in the form of revolving fund to caregivers and in the form of school materials to girls  is with the aim of improving girls’ retention in school and keep parents away from marrying off their children for the sake of bride price and temporary economic gain. Caregivers were provided with the basics of business management training so as to help them to bear fruit from the income generating activities they would be engaged with the use of the revolving fund. As a result, both girls and caregivers have greatly benefited from the economic gain due to the income generated to cover their basic expenses at household level and encouraged girls to stay in school.