20 Years of the Evidence Base on What Works to Prevent Child Marriage: A Systematic Review
Objectives
This review aimed to identify which interventions effectively delay or prevent child marriage in low- and middle-income countries. It focused on the comparative effectiveness, scale and sustainability of multicomponent versus single-component approaches, with particular attention to schooling, cash transfers and girls’ economic opportunities.
Findings
Thirty evaluations from 2000 to 2019 met the inclusion criteria. Single-component interventions that supported girls’ education through conditional cash or in-kind transfers showed the most consistent positive impact on delaying marriage. Programs that expanded girls’ economic and livelihood opportunities or improved access to job markets also reduced child marriage. In contrast, multicomponent programs had a low overall success rate and were rarely scaled or sustained. Unconditional cash transfers for poverty mitigation and long-term asset transfers conditional on remaining unmarried generally showed no effect.
Recommendations
Policy-makers and donors should prioritise interventions that enhance girls’ human capital and opportunities, especially education subsidies and targeted skills or employment programs, and embed these within government systems for scale and sustainability. Multicomponent programs should be redesigned or rationalised, with clearer theories of change and stronger evidence before large investments. Future research should test promising single-component models in diverse settings, examine supply-side education and structural interventions, and incorporate scale and long-term follow-up into evaluation designs.
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