With an eye towards evidence-informed programming to eliminate child marriage in Ethiopia, this study aims to identify existing local programming which is reducing child marriage and to assess impact pathways, scalability, community outreach and other positive forces for change.

Child marriage programming is comparatively new, only gaining traction in the mid-1990s, primarily located in South Asia, mostly small scale and only rarely rigorously evaluated. As a result, very little is known about what works on the broader scale and in the longer term to prevent child marriage.

This research, which required work in seven Ethiopian languages across five regional states, is focused on programmes within Ethiopia and aims to promote more systematic lesson learning in the context of greater international investment in child marriage reduction.

This research was commissioned by UNICEF Ethiopia and the National Alliance to End Child Marriage in Ethiopia by 2025, spearheaded by the Ethiopian Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs.