Strengthening capacity of community-based and feminist actors to enact an evidenced-based feminist vision to address child marriage in crisis-affected communities across Eastern and Southern Africa

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Strengthening capacity of community-based and feminist actors to enact an evidenced-based feminist vision to address child marriage in crisis-affected communities across Eastern and Southern Africa

This project builds on research completed by King’s College London (KCL), the Women's Refugee Commission (WRC) and Rozaria Memorial Trust (RMT), funded through the Call to Action on Protection from Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies, entitled ‘Integrating the response to child marriage in East Africa’.

Based on the research findings we propose the following work packages over a period of a year based on key elements of the objective;

Work package 1) WELL-TRAINIED: Free, accessible, relational and creative packages of learning for community-based/civil society/women-led groups across Eastern and Southern Africa, led by RMT, KCL and PAAECM, on a) impact of 'crisis' (i.e. conflict/climate change) on patterns and experiences of child marriage with attention to local contexts across Eastern and Southern Africa, b) understanding, mapping and negotiating humanitarian systems across Eastern and Southern Africa and c) 'what works' to prevent child marriage and meet the needs of married girls;

Work package 2) WELL-RESOURCED: Mapping of regular and irregular funding opportunities that are accessible or designed for community-based/civil society/women-led groups across Sub-Saharan Africa to address child marriage, with assessment of key requirements and expectations. This mapping and analysis will be widely communicated/shared/utilized across relevant networks;

Work package 3) WELL-POSITIONED: Mapping and analysis of humanitarian system and actors in three contexts across Eastern and Southern Africa (I.e. Somalia, Kenya, and Mozambique) with attention given to understanding key decision-making process, spaces that community-based/civil society/women-led groups have access too, as well as the contributions they can make to the humanitarian system, resulting in analysis being widely circulated/shared/utilized across relevant networks with recommendations for enhancing the position of community-based/civil society/women-led groups across East and Southern Africa within the humanitarian system to address child marriage in crisis-affected communities. This work will feed into current revisions of the humanitarian/aid systems, drawing from the experiences of community-based/civil society/women-led groups seeking to address child marriage.

Aims

The aim of the project is to strengthen the pathway to impact for the first objective of the feminist vision to address child marriage, which is to ensure that 'Feminist and women’s rights actors are well-trained, well-resourced, and well positioned to transform (child marriage) practice and policies that drive humanitarian preparedness and response through local to regional spaces.' The project focuses on this objective because it supports the strengthening of feminist and women’s rights community-based actors, so they are better placed and better equipped to implement the other four objectives. This project will also include those based in Southern Africa as well as Eastern Africa due to the frequent collaboration between these regions, and common experiences of child marriage.