EARLY MARRIAGE IN THE WA MUNICIPALITY: PERSPECTIVES AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS.

Abstract

Throughout the world, marriage is regarded as a moment of celebration and a milestone in adult life. sadly, the practice of early marriage gives no such cause for celebration. All too often, the imposition of a marriage partner upon a child means that a girl or boy’s childhood is cut short and their fundamental human rights are compromised. Several international conventions and laws exist to prevent early marriage but yet the situation still exists. The main objective of this research is to investigate perspectives of early marriage in the wa municipality and policy implications. Specifically, the thesis sought to examine the reasons influencing the practice of early marriage, to examine the effects of early marriage and to explore local driven policies needed to prevent early marriages in the wa municipality. The study employed the phenomenological research design and the qualitative research approach. Participants were drawn from the selected communities from the five zonal councils in the wa municipality using the simple random sampling which include Jonga, Sagu, Boli, Zingu and Kpongu.The study was guided by the theory of change on early marriage (2014) Girls Not Brides developed by UNICEF which recognizes local content solutions to ending early marriage and empowerment of young girls and that, there is no single solution to early marriage, everyone has a role to play. Both probability and Non probability sampling techniques were used to select a total of 110 respondents for the study which consist of five categories. Out of these, 30 of the respondents were teenagers who married before attaining age 18 which were selected through snowballing and are interviewed. 20 of the respondents were their age category who were not married and are in schools, who were also selected through simple random sampling. 30 were parents, who were also selected using purposive sampling. 20 of the respondents were teachers who were also selected through the simple random sampling and finally, 10 were staff of human rights who were also selected through purposive sampling.Both primary and secondary data sources were used and the secondary data is mostly used to support the primary data in most of my analysis. The research employed In-depth personal interviews, Focus Group Discussions, Key Informants Interviews and Direct Observations as data collection methods. The data were collected, transcribed and analyzed using text through the conventional content analysis involving identification of themes and presented in a narrative form. The findings revealed that early marriage exist in the Wa municipality and is influenced by parental irresponsibility, Religious Values, Single Parenting, Gender inequality and Peer Influence. Also, school dropout, partner violence, lack of voice in decision making and malnutrition were also reported as the effects of early marriage in the wa municipality. In exploring local driven policies to help prevent early marriage, supporting female education, developing protective by laws, theatre/ Drama, and collaboration between traditional and religious leaders were reported as ways of ending early marriage in the municipality.The study concludes that early marriage exists in the wa municipality and it is a worrying situation which is much prevalence among girls than boys. There is no single way of ending early marriage but a collective effort of all. So therefore, the study recommends that, early marriage should be included in both primary and junior high school educational curriculum and also individuals and other social groups in the communities that oppose early marriage need to be supported.