adminTafadzwa Ndlovu Harare Bureau
THIRTY-ONE percent of marriages in Zimbabwe involve young girls below the age of 18, according to shock new statistics. Now, traditional leaders are embarking on a nationwide campaign to raise awareness in communities on the unpleasant consequences of child marriages.
The Chiefs’ Council, the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Gender and Community Development and Plan International are rolling out an awareness campaign involving the country’s 272 chiefs.
Plan International programme support manager Zvidzai Chidhakwa said: “We’re going to work with chiefs and set up workshops where we educate them on the dangers of child marriages which include robbing them of their childhood and education as well as destroying their prospects of individual development.
“After acquiring that information, they can then convey it to their subordinates. They need to be educated on the plight of the girl child because they’re the ones at the grassroots level where child marriages are prevalent, so they should be able to influence the behavioural change within their communities.”
Chiefs’ Council president Chief Fortune Charumbira said it was critical for traditional leaders to revive cultural education in communities.
“There’s need to revive cultural education through cascading the information on ending child marriages to all 272 chiefs in provincial meetings and ensuring that they further disseminate the same information to the headman, village heads and ultimately the community at large,” he said.
“We also want to lead in dissemination of awareness campaigns to end child marriages in schools as well as strengthen structures or platforms where traditional leaders and religious leaders converge and exchange ideas that on the issue,” he said.
According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) 2012 report, at least 31 percent of females in Zimbabwe are married before turning 18, with 15 percent of them getting married by the age of 15.
Online Reporter