Stories of Changes from Open Diaries: The Joint Effects of Radio Messaging and Group Discussions to Fight Child Marriage

Chapter 2, Review of related Literature:
2.3, Steps taken to Stop child marriage:
In general, early marriage of girls greatly affects the realization and enjoyment of virtually all of their rights. The imposition of marriage on children or adolescents who are in no way ready for married life deprives them of freedom, opportunities for personal development, health and well-being, education, and participation in civic life.
Ethiopia accepted international laws as well as developed local legal frameworks and implementing multiple intervention strategies including making partnership with international organizations to stop child marriage. One of such initiatives that Ethiopia accepted is Beijing Platform of Action United Nations, (1996) which is the cooperation and collaboration of GOs and NGO s to gender mainstreaming, advocacy, capacity building and creating grassroots women movements. Based on this many international and local NGOs are involved in different intervention activities including research, training and preventive measures. NPPE also encourage GO and NGO s involved in social and development programs that they incorporate gender and population content in their activities (Fikremarkos, 2008). WHO Media Center (2013), states that despite the fact that 158 countries have set the legal age for marriage at 18 years, laws are rarely enforced since the practice of marrying young children is upheld by tradition and social norms. Salih (2013), coating UNICEF advisor Malhotra said that laws alone have proven ineffective at preventing child marriage for instance countries like Bangladesh, India, and Indonesia have had minimum age of marriage laws for decades but still have under18 age rates of girls married 66.2, 44.5, and 22 percent respectively. Research findings indicate a significant number of persons who strongly disapprove of the child right violation practice publicly, but still follow the practice in their homes (PFI-Ethiopia, 2006). The study SCN (2011)

The author Getnet Eshetu graduated in Biology from Addis Ababa University and was awarded his master s degree in Educational Psychology by Bahir Dar University. He served as a high school teacher for 6 years and has worked for the Gondar Education Media Center for the past 20 years up to the present. His media experience encompasses the areas of management, training and research as well as designing and implementing media projects on different social and development issues. Among his research papers is the study Involving Children for Hand Washing Behavior Change: Repeated Message Delivery to Foster Action, which has been published by Anchor Academic Publishing in 2013.