Effectiveness of a community-based intervention in changing knowledge of and attitudes towards early marriage in The Gambia
Objectives
The study aimed to assess whether a multi-component community-based project in rural Gambia could improve knowledge of early marriage and shift attitudes towards delaying girls’ marriage to 18 years. It also sought to understand how the intervention influenced parents’ and adolescents’ views on girls’ rights and the perceived link between early marriage and premarital sex.
Results
The proportion of parents who believed that a girl should reach 18 years before marriage rose from 44.8% at baseline to 70.7% at midline. Fear of premarital sex remained common, but the share of parents who thought girls must marry early to avoid premarital sex dropped sharply from 51.7% to 10%, with a highly significant p-value. Among adolescent boys and girls, there was a modest increase of between 2% and 7% in agreement that girls have the right to choose whom they marry. Qualitative data from focus group discussions and key informant interviews attributed these shifts in knowledge and attitudes directly to the project’s activities.
Recommendations
The authors recommend scaling up community-based, multi-component interventions that engage both parents and adolescents to challenge norms that favour early marriage. Programmes should continue to address fears around premarital sex while promoting girls’ rights, including the right to delay marriage and choose their partner. Future efforts should combine quantitative and qualitative monitoring to track how changes in attitudes translate into reductions in early marriage over time.
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