Advancing the evidence base on strategies to end child marriage and support married girls: Meeting report, 30 September to 2 October 2019

Summary

The document summarizes a 2019 global research meeting on child marriage, which brought together researchers, practitioners, donors and UN agencies to review progress since the 2013 research-priorities meeting and to refresh the global evidence agenda. It notes that the evidence base on child marriage has grown substantially, especially on prevalence, trends, drivers (such as poverty, crises, and restrictive gender norms) and consequences, helping to position child marriage as a global policy priority.

At the same time, participants highlighted major gaps: limited understanding of why some countries or regions have seen faster declines than others, weak subnational data, and too few rigorous, scaled evaluations of interventions (including in humanitarian settings and for married or formerly married girls). The meeting therefore produced an updated set of priority research questions focused on understanding what drives change, strengthening impact and cost-effectiveness evidence on intervention packages and delivery platforms, expanding work in fragile contexts, and improving evidence on how best to support girls already affected by child marriage.

Purpose

The purpose of this document is to present the key discussions and outputs of the 2019 global research meeting on child marriage, including a stocktake of progress since the 2013 research-priorities meeting and an updated set of priority research questions. It aims to guide how future research on ending child marriage and supporting married and formerly married girls is framed, commissioned and used, so that evidence more effectively informs policies, programmes and investments at global, regional and country levels.

Audience

The document is intended for researchers, implementers, advocates, donors and policymakers working on child marriage and adolescent girls’ wellbeing. It specifically targets UN agencies, international and national NGOs, foundations, government ministries, and research institutions that design, fund or use evidence to shape strategies to prevent child marriage and improve outcomes for girls who are already married.