DANG: The Lumbini Province government is rolling out a province-wide campaign to combat child marriage, targeting students, out-of-school adolescent girls, parents and teachers through awareness, counselling and community-based prevention programmes.
To ensure the effective implementation of conditional grants allocated to local governments for the fiscal year 2083/84, the provincial government has issued the Child Marriage Reduction Conditional Grant Programme Implementation Procedure, 2083.
Under the procedure, all sub-metropolitan cities, municipalities and rural municipalities in the province will be required to conduct child marriage reduction activities through their respective designated departments or units.
The programme will primarily target students from grades 6 to 12, out-of-school girls and adolescents aged 12 to 18, as well as their parents and guardians. Teachers will also be involved in the initiative.
According to the procedure, awareness programmes will be conducted to educate the target groups about the social, educational, health-related and legal consequences of child marriage.
The programme also provides for identifying geographical areas, communities and social groups at greater risk of child marriage and offering targeted counselling to out-of-school girls.
Similarly, training sessions on child marriage and its legal consequences may be conducted with the involvement of experts and resource persons from the judicial, security and administrative sectors. Individuals who have made long-standing contributions to efforts against child marriage will also be mobilised as trainers.
The provincial government has directed local governments to distribute programme activities across all wards, as far as possible, using the grants provided. Annual data on the prevalence of child marriage will also be collected to help identify high-risk settlements, neighbourhoods, communities and wards and ensure that interventions are focused where they are needed most.
The procedure further allows local governments to organise documentary and short-film screenings, street dramas and other public awareness activities to discourage child marriage.
A maximum of 15 percent of the total grant amount may be allocated to publicising the programme through local radio stations, television, online media and newspapers.
The provincial government said the procedure aims to lay the groundwork for making Lumbini Province free of child marriage, protecting and promoting children’s rights, and changing the attitudes and behaviour of children, parents, teachers, and social and religious leaders towards the practice.
Through the programme, the provincial government intends to strengthen community-level awareness and encourage coordinated efforts among local governments and stakeholders to prevent child marriage.
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