Background on the CRANK

New research on child marriage has increased over the last 10 years. Thanks to this body of evidence, we have a better understanding of why and how child marriage happens, its impacts, and how it links to other development issues.

But the evidence is not always used to inform regional, national and subnational policy and programming. This is because it either does not respond to the needs of policy makers and programme designers, or because it is not well coordinated. Research has also focused mainly on understanding the drivers and impacts of child marriage, rather than what works to end it.

In 2019, Girls Not Brides, the World Health Organization, and the UNFPA-UNICEF Global Programme to End Child Marriage brought together researchers, policy makers and programmers to review the evidence on child marriage and identify research gaps. We agreed to facilitate greater interaction and coordination between these actors, and to fill priority research gaps. We set up CRANK to meet this need.

Read more in the report below.