You are here

Background

Every year in developing countries, more than 15 million girls – or 1 in 3 girls – are married before the age of 18; 1 in 10 girls – are married before the age of 15. Globally, 9 out of the 10 countries with the highest rates of child marriage are found in Africa. A total of 47 countries in Africa practice child marriage, 29 of which have 30 percent or more of women reporting being married by age 18. Twelve of these are in East and Southern Africa.

The consequences of child marriages are devastating for adolescent girls and boys, their families, communities and nations. Child marriage is both a product of sexual and reproductive health factors, and a cause of poor sexual and reproductive health outcomes. When a girl marries young, she is often forced to drop out of school and social expectations are that she starts to have children. Girls married as children are neither physically nor emotionally ready to become wives and mothers, and are at far greater risk of experiencing dangerous complications in pregnancy and childbirth, becoming infected with HIV and suffering intimate partner violence. Pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death among adolescents aged 15-19 years in lower and middle income countries. The child brides and their families are more likely to live in rural areas, be uneducated or under-educated, and to be from the lowest wealth quintiles. Child marriage is a uniquely challenging impediment to the actualization of demographic dividend for accelerated and sustainable social growth and human development.

Ending child marriage in Africa requires evidence-based strategies and multi-sectoral approaches for girls' empowerment, social and cultural norms change, legal reform, and policy action. Proven solutions involve girls' schooling (especially lower secondary) and programmes that offer life skills, literacy, and health information and services. Coordinated, focused and scaled up efforts are needed to build social and economic resilience and to promote gender equitable legal and policy frameworks that are effectively implemented.  

While several global reviews and studies have been undertaken to showcase data and evidence to guide multi-sectoral interventions for elimination of child marriage and numerous partners are implementing programmes to address adolescent girl’s vulnerabilities and end child marriage, there is a need for more information about the scale and content of the programmes, The main stakeholders involved in its implementation and/or funding or how the various programmes are coordinated to guide effective programming, coordination and use of resources.

Purpose

UNFPA is commissioning this review to provide an up-to-date status report on child marriage initiatives/programmes implemented by government, UN and/or NGOs in 23 countries in East and Southern Africa.  This report will be used to identify programmes and good and promising practices that can be taken to scale in the countries with high child marriage prevalence, service as basis for knowledge sharing and coordination with and between partners and countries, and support resource mobilization at global, regional and national level.

Scope of work

  1. Desk review of child marriage programmes in East and Southern Africa conducted between 2005 and 2016. This will include searching available academic journals, evaluation reports, and government and NGO websites. Programmes to address child marriage can include advocacy for legal reform, education retention programmes, girl empowerment, engaging communities on community norm changes, adolescent friendly health services and social protection.
     
  2. Consultation with key informants in the region, including UN agencies, INGOs and NGOs, through email, teleconferences and online questionnaires to:
  • Identify key partners and implementing child marriage programmes within the region;
  • Identify and review the available documentation relating to child marriage programming in East and Southern Africa (from 2005 onwards), including upcoming and planned interventions.

The list of possible stakeholders to be contacted for information and reports will be decided in consultation with UNFPA.

  1. Administer a standard questionnaire to implementing agencies to better understand the nature and scope of interventions including geographic location, duration, type of intervention/s, number of recipients of programme, evaluation and impact, funding source (if available. This will be done only in priority child marriage countries or those with child marriages rates of 30% or more in the ESA Region.
     
  2. Synthesize findings and prepare report in a user friendly manor with infographics (maximum of 40 pages).

Final deliverables and format

  • A report that reflects the current status of child marriage programming in East and Southern Africa.
  • The report shall be available electronically as a word document and in pdf format, include an executive summary, methodology, key findings, and recommendations for programme implementers, governments, civil society organizations and donors.
  • Payment will be a lump sum based on satisfactory delivery paid in two instalments (50% upon submission of inception report and 50% upon submission of final and acceptable report by UNFPA with all comments from UNFPA and partners integrated

Monitoring and progress control

The consultant is expected to produce the following deliverables:

Deliverables

Estimated # of days

Estimated timelines

Briefing with UNFPA ESARO Adolescents and Youth team

1

12 September 2016

Inception report including detail methodology for the efficient completion of the assignment, draft analytical framework and outline of the final report

 

2

16 September 2016

Finalize the analytical framework, survey tools and partner/stakeholder questionnaires

2

23 September 2016

Collect evidence,  programmes and partner/stakeholder information

15

14 October 2016

Establish and enter information about partners and  programmes identified through the survey in a database

5

21 October 2016

Analyse evidence and data and prepare first draft Report for submission to UNFPA ESARO

10

04 November 2016

Prepare second draft report for submission to UNFPA ESARO

3

18 November 2016

Finalize Report, Power point presentation summarizing the key findings from the mapping

2

30 November 2016

Total number of working days for the consultant

40 Days

 

Duration and time frame

The consultancy will take place for a total of 40 days over the period from 12 September to 30 November 2016.

Location

Desk based at consultant’s home location. No travel is expected for this assignment.

Project Management

UNFPA will recruit a consultant to undertake this assignment. The consultant will work under the overall guidance of the UNFPA ESARO ASRH Policy Advisor and will report to the UNFPA Programme Specialist on Adolescent and Youth for day to day management of the consultancy.

The consultant will also work in close collaboration with the Regional Evidence and Research Specialist and UNFPA Country Office Youth and Gender focal points.

Qualifications

  • PhD/Advanced academic degrees in a related field (preferably public health, social sciences, gender studies, or international development);
  • A minimum of seven years of professional experience in gender, child marriage and adolescent/youth SRH programming and research;
  • Substantial knowledge of the evidence base and intervention options to address the issue of child marriage in Africa;
  • Demonstrated experience in regional evidence/literature review, stakeholder interviewing, survey design, data collection and synthesis of findings and use of infographics;
  • Experience in quality control of research, report writing and editing;
  • Experience in involvement of diverse and inter-disciplinary stakeholders;
  • Language skills in English, French and preferably Portuguese.

How to Apply

Interested consultants may submit cover letters, CVs, sample work and references together with a brief proposal on the methodology/approach for the assignment to jobs.esaro@unfpa.org no later than August 31, 2016.