International funding to end child marriage: reviewing a decade of investment

Investing in ending child marriage is critical for the wellbeing of girls, their families, wider society, and future generations. There is, however, limited knowledge of the funding landscape to address child marriage. This research aims to contribute to evidence-based calls for more and better funding for gender equality and adolescent girls.¹

How the research was carried out

The research draws on three sets of international funding data that include both governmental (known as ‘official development assistance’) and philanthropic funding. There is no code for funding that addresses child marriage in any of these data sets, and so a manual search using a range of related terms was undertaken. The resulting projects (over 2,000) were then split into two categories:

• Projects with a primary objective to address child marriage: funding disbursed to these projects is referred to as ‘primary end child marriage (ECM) funding’.
• Projects that address child marriage as one of several objectives or as a results indicator: funding disbursed to these projects is referred to as ‘secondary ECM funding’.

Key takeaways

Some of the key takeaways:

• Funding to end child marriage is profoundly inadequate. Even before the major cuts in 2025, only 0.025% of overall official development assistance (ODA) was allocated to projects with a primary focus on ending child marriage.
• Recent estimates² suggest that in the next five years there will be over 70 million girls at risk of child marriage, which means current levels of international funding for ending child marriage are equivalent to less than US$1, per girl at risk, per year.
• Most of the funding to end child marriage has been ODA, with the amount of philanthropic funding more significant for projects with a primary objective to address child marriage. Many key governmental donors are cutting ODA substantially over the next two years and some have also signalled a shift from a focus on gender equality, further threatening funding to end child marriage.
• Organisations who are closest to the girls and communities most affected by child marriage receive only a fraction of available funding.

Recommendations

The report identifies four recommendations:

• Protect existing and unlock new funding to end child marriage.
• Shift power and resources to organisations working directly with girls and communities most affected by child marriage.
• Share evidence and knowledge across the ecosystem: evidence of what works to end child marriage and knowledge on how to unlock new forms of financing.
• Advocate together to keep adolescent girls’ rights and ending child marriage on political, policymaking and funding agendas.

At this moment, in the context of drastic cuts to ODA³ alongside the global rollback of girls’ and women’s rights, we must hold the line on the necessity of increased and improved funding for gender equality with a renewed focus on investing in ending child marriage as core to that effort. This report provides an evidence base to support renewed action, stronger coordination, and a funding architecture capable of delivering lasting change for girls and their communities.