Technical note on partnering with men and boys to end child marriage in the Global Programme to End Child Marriage.

Objectives

The technical note aims to promote a shared understanding of how to engage men and boys in efforts to end child marriage within the UNFPA–UNICEF Global Programme. It seeks to clarify key concepts around masculinities, summarise existing evidence on male engagement, and provide practical guidance on approaches and program models that support gender-transformative work with men and boys at individual, community and policy levels.

Findings

The note finds that harmful masculinities and patriarchal gender norms play a central role in sustaining child marriage and other forms of gender inequality, yet most existing interventions with men and boys focus on violence, SRH and relationships rather than explicitly on child marriage. It highlights that programmes using participatory group education, critical reflection, youth-led campaigns and comprehensive sexuality education can shift men’s and boys’ attitudes and behaviours towards greater gender equity, but robust evaluations remain limited. The document concludes that engagement with men and boys is most effective when it complements girls’ empowerment, works across the socio-ecological model, is embedded in broader systems and policies, and anticipates backlash so that resistance and power imbalances do not undermine progress for women and girls.

Summary

This technical note explains why partnering with men and boys is essential to ending child marriage and advancing gender equality. It outlines how harmful masculinities and patriarchal norms shape marriage practices and sustain child marriage, and synthesises evidence on what works to shift these norms. The document then describes gender-transformative ways to involve men and boys at individual, school, community and policy levels, emphasising that their engagement must complement, not replace, work that centres and empowers girls.

Purpose

The purpose of the note is to provide practitioners in the UNFPA–UNICEF Global Programme with a clear conceptual framework and practical guidance on engaging men and boys to end child marriage. It seeks to harmonise understanding of key concepts such as masculinities and male engagement, share promising practices from different countries, and guide programme design so that work with men and boys is genuinely gender-transformative, accountable to women and girls, and integrated into broader efforts to prevent child marriage.

Audience

The target audience includes:

• Programme staff and implementing partners of the UNFPA–UNICEF Global Programme who design and deliver interventions to prevent child marriage, especially those working on gender-transformative programming and male engagement.
• Government ministries and national stakeholders involved in gender, youth, education, health, child protection and social development sectors who are responsible for policy and system-level responses.
• Civil society organisations, community-based organisations and women- and youth-led groups that work directly with communities and engage men and boys in norm-change initiatives.
• Humanitarian and development actors integrating gender-transformative approaches and child-marriage prevention into multi-sectoral programming.