Child marriage in Malawi

Simavi partnered with Youth Net and Counseling (YONECO) and the Girls Empowerment Network (GENET) to implement the Marriage: No Child’s Play (MNCP) programme from 2016 – 2020. Save the Children Malawi was involved through providing support on targeted technical areas and worked together with YONECO and GENET to undertake advocacy. In MNCP, MTBA  adopted a holistic approach that is girl-centred and community-driven. The programme design was thematically integrated and creates opportunities and platforms for adolescents, particularly girls. You can read more about this on the How page of this website. 

Below are a few of the key achievements of MNCP in Malawi: 

Informed decisions: 

  • In Malawi, girls who could correctly identify the legal age at marriage increased from 44.5% to 59.5%. 
  • The proportion of girls reporting that their community has a youth-friendly healthcentreincreased from 4.3% to 59.3%.  

Alternative life paths: 

  • In Malawi, the mean number of years of education completed increased from 3.9 to 4.5 years from baseline toendline. 
  • The proportion of girls who could not read or write decreased from 32.3% to 14.4%.