Save the Children Finland International Programmes 2008 – 2010

Children working against early marriage: Konso, Ethiopia
Elfnesh Gezahegn, 14, lives in Borkora village. Her
parents kept her at home for household chores, and
she never went to school. At the age of 12, Elfnesh
was offered money by the parents of a man wishing
to marry her. The child protection club in her village
heard about the plans, and immediately reported
the case to the community’s Child Protection Coordinating
Committee (CPCC).
Through the project, “Protection of Children from Child
Labour, exploitation and discrimination based on disability”,
a system has been put in place for reporting and
responding to cases of child abuse. In Baso Liben, for
example, the number of children forced to marry was
reduced from 320 in year 2008 to 7 by the end of the
project.
The CPCC arranged a meeting with all involved parties.
Elfnesh’s family was briefed on the negative
consequences of early marriage. Finally they understood
that their plan was both wrong and illegal. The
CPCC members also convinced Elfnesh’s parents to
send their daughter to school. Elfnesh was enrolled
in the Borkora Alternative Basic Education Center
(ABEC) that had been built with the support of SCF.
Elfnesh is now a member of a drama team in her
school. They perform at the market near their
school to raise awareness on issues such as early
marriage, child labour and discrimination against girls.
Elfnesh is determined to continue going to school.
– I want to thank the child club and CPCC members
for saving me from being illiterate. I want to work
hard to become a doctor.
Photo: Gezahegn Lukama
In Bangladesh and India, the SCF-supported 114 children’s
groups have been advocating on child rights issues
and as a result, child labour, child marriage and
child migration cases have been reducing in the program
areas. In Bangladesh 1,606 cases out of total 1,775
complaints of violence against children have been successfully
resolved by the Child Protection Committees.
Many of these cases were reported by children
themselves. Members of children groups are also more
confident in discussing child protection issues with
their parents, community members and schoolteachers.
These positive results demonstrate that child leadership
and participation directly improves child protection
mechanisms.
Practical action
Child clubs in Bangladesh have taken a proactive role
in the communities and are creating awareness among
parents and community members on child rights issues.
Child clubs organized 72 Theater-for-Development
shows to draw attention of the authorities on child
rights violations like unsafe child migration, child labour
and child marriage, and reaching around 27,000 people.
Over 3,000 children in Burkina Faso and Mali who are
members of the 62 child clubs or child parliaments
supported by SCF, have benefited from capacity building,
which enabled them to plan and carry out awareness
raising campaigns to inform other children and
their parents about child rights and dangers of harmful
child labour.
22 Save the Children Finland – International programmes 2008 – 2010