Keywords: Children Protection
This innovation was stimulated by the escalating number of young girls in rural areas being married off at an early age, the perpetuation of harmful traditional practices, high number of teenage pregnancies and school drop-outs, the Ministry of Chiefs and Traditional Affairs’ (MOCTA) launched the Ending Child Marriage Programme in Zambia in 2013, in order to protect children from social, traditional and cultural norms that perpetuate child marriage.
The Ministry’s innovation resulted in the engagement of traditional leaders in protecting children from varied harmful practices, specifically child marriage and associated vulnerabilities. The highpoint of the submission was illustrating MOCTA’s effort to ‘do more with less’ resources from the national treasury.
Accordingly, MOCTA highlighted the establishment of Chiefdom Trust-Funds in Chiefdoms with minimal funding from government but with private-partnership assistance, resulting in support to child marriage victims. The development of Chiefdom Trust Funds is the value addition to the already existing Ending Child Marriage Programme, given the scarcity of institutional funding for programmes.
MOCTA cited three Chiefdoms, illustrating the collaboration with traditional leaders as change champions in the fight against child marriage. Also highlighted was the high-level commitment of the President alongside the First Lady amongst others, in supporting the implementation of Ending Child Marriage in Zambia.