Moblized to End Child Marriage

Project Title: MOBLIZED TO END CHILD MARRIAGE

Years: May 2021 –  December 2021

Donor: UNICEF

Target Region:Beni Mellal – Khenifra

Child marriage is a serious violation of their rights. It compromises the development of young girls; it is a guarantee of early pregnancy and social exclusion. The low level of education and training of girls victims of this phenomenon reinforces their poverty and vulnerability to all other forms of violence, in particular domestic violence, and keeps them and their families in a vicious cycle. In Morocco, despite the adoption of the Family Code, which aims, among other things, to protect young girls and boys from early marriage, the consequences of which on their health, both physical and psychological, are obvious, the marriage of minors is a social practice which continues to prevail in several regions, especially in rural areas. The figures put forward by the Public Prosecutor’s Office bear witness to the phenomenon, as the number of applications for child marriage reached almost 32,000 cases in 2018 and 95% of marriages involving a child involved girls. In addition, SITAN 2019 underlined, referring to data from the 2018 ENPSF of the Ministry of Health, that at the regional level the highest proportions of women married for the first time before reaching the age of 15 years have been recorded in rural areas. These figures, however, hide the reality and scope of the phenomenon since they do not include traditional and customary forms of marriage. Ending this phenomenon requires a combination of strategies aimed at advocacy, social mobilization, sustainable behavioral and social change as well as community engagement and capacity building and economic and social development at the territorial level with equitable access to resources. basic services including education for all cycles, with a view to acting positively on negative knowledge, attitudes, perceptions, beliefs, social and gender norms as well as on harmful practices which hinder the full achievement of rights and fuel the persistence of harmful practices, especially in rural areas.   AOCG is implementing this initiative called “Mobilized to End Child Marriage.” In the Beni mellal-Khenifra region aiming to make families, communities and young people more aware of the harmful impact of gender-based violence suffered by girls and early marriage. This project is therefore an opportunity to promote children’s rights and positive social standards to fight against child marriage, develop awareness-raising and dissemination actions of the culture of equality, involve men and boys and community, strengthen the life skills of young people (boys and girls), and encourage artistic creativity that carries children’s human rights messages. The involvement and commitment of men and boys, is crucial for behavioral change and social norms for the realization of the rights of girls and women. Through :

• Capacity building of CSOs in conflict transformation, children’s rights, positive masculinity and techniques for preventing child marriage and gender-based violence,
• Sensitization of parents, communities and stakeholders to the impact of early marriage and sexual violence on minors.
• The creation of real and virtual spaces for dialogue of participation and community engagement and the exchange of good practices on positive masculinity and the prevention of early marriage and sexual violence.
• Strengthening the commitment and mobilization of the main local and regional actors acting on the other determinants of child marriage, in particular the National Education, and the elected Councils to support initiatives at the level of social change