Project Update:UNFPA-UNICEF Global Programme to End Child Marriage 2024 Results

While Zonta International has continued the partnership with the UNFPA-UNICEF Global Programme to End Child Marriage (“the Global Programme”) into the 2024-2026 Biennium, the Programme made great strides in Phase II.

The Global Programme launched in 2016 and was designed as a 15-year programme to contribute toward SDG 5.3 (elimination of harmful practices against women and girls, including child marriage). The Global Programme focuses on adolescent girls, ages 10-19, who are at risk of, or already affected by child marriage across 12 high-prevalence or high burden countries: Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Yemen and Zambia. Beyond the country-level efforts, the Global Programme is also a global advocate for girls and a leading voice in advancing effots to end child marriage worldwide.

The Global Programme launched Phase III of the programme in March 2024. This phase emphasizes a gender-transformative, multisectoral approach to shifting harmful attitudes and norms that perpetuate child marriage, while strengthening government and civil society commitments needed to create protective and enabling environments for girls. In 2024, Phase III saw 7.4 million vulnerable adolescent girls (including already married and parenting adolescents) empowered through life skills and comprehensive sexuality education interventions. More than 8.4 million vulnerable girls were also supported to continue their education.

In 2024, the Global Programme continued its investment in gender-transformative approaches to address harmful gender norms and redistribute power, resources, and services more equally. The program integrated gender-transformative tools into government programming to leverage resources at scale, and provided technical support and trainings to implementors, advocates, and technical staff. In addition, the Global Programme expanded partnerships with women-led local and global organizations from 74 organizations in 2023 to 133 organizations in 2024 to promote the rights of girls and advocate for gender equality and ending child marriage.

In 2024, the Global Programme’s new Rising Stars Initiative was launched, providing technical support to 18 additional countries, including Malawi, which launched a national strategy, and Colombia, which passed a landmark law banning child marriage. The Global Programme’s reach expanded and the expertise given helped to shape international discourse, including contributions to the United Nations Secretary-General’s report on Child, Early and Forced Marriage in August 2024. These efforts and expansion from the Global Programme have resulted in accelerating global efforts to end child marriage by 2030.

In 2025 and beyond, the Global Programme will continue to implement Phase III informed by the evidence base on what works to end child marriage. The Global Programme will prioritize evidence-based, high impact interventions to maximize the greatest value for money and achievement of at scale results, particularly in the context of growing financial uncertainty in the aid and development landscape.

Partners of the UNFPA-UNICEF Global Programme to End Child Marriage include: Zonta International, Government of Canada, Government of Norway, UKAid, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Government of the Netherlands.

UNICEF does not endorse any brand, company, organization, product or service.

6 JUNE 2025