Context of Child Marriage and Its Implications in Bangladesh
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CONTEXT OF AND ITS IMPLICATIONS IN BANGLADESH Department of Population Sciences University of Dhaka Copyright @ 2017 United Nations Population fund Copyright @ 2017 Department of Population Sciences, University of Dhaka United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) BangladeshDepartment Country of Population Office Sciences University of Dhaka IDB Bhaban (15th Floor), E-8/A Begum Rokeya Sharani RoomSher-e-Bangla No 4046, Nagar, Arts Dhaka,Building Bangladesh (3rd Floor) Department of Population Sciences, University of Dhaka Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh Tel: +88(02) 918 3047-49 Fax: +88 (02) 918 3082 Tel : +88 (02) 9661900-49 Ext. 6710 Website: http://www.unfpabgd.org Fax : +88 (02) 9667222 http://www.unfpa.org Photo credit: United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Website: http://www.dpsdu.edu.bd/index.php/en/ A. S. M. Maruf Kabir Design and printing supervision: Visual Communication Ltd. Photo credit : United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) A. S. M. Maruf Kabir ISBN: 978-984-34-3399-2 Design and printing supervision: Visual Communication Ltd. ISBN: 978-984-34-3399-2 Disclaimer: The viewsviews expressed expressed in in this this report report are are those those of theof theauthors authors and fromdo not the necessarily Department reflect of Populationthe views of theSciences, United University Nations Population of Dhaka. Fund The publication(UNFPA) or the is protectedUnited Nations by copyright, Organization. including The publication texts, data, is protectedmaps and by photographs. copyright, including Permission texts, to data, reproduce maps and any photographs. part of this Permissionpublication to must reproduce be requested any part offrom this the publication publishers. must be requested from the publishers. CONTEXT OF CHILD MARRIAGE AND ITS IMPLICATIONS IN BANGLADESH Department of Population Sciences Third Floor, Arts Faculty Building University of Dhaka Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh RESEARCH TEAM Mohammad Bellal Hossain A. K. M. Nurun Nabi, PhD Ms. Tehmina Ghafur, PhD Md. Aminul Haque, PhD Mohammad Mainul Islam, PhD Md. Mehedi Hasan Khan Md. Rabiul Haque Md. Kamrul Islam, PhD Sanjit Roy Mohammad Sazzad Hasan i Secretary Secondary and Higher Education Division Ministry of Education Govt. of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh MESSAGE Child Marriage is one of the root causes of the vulnerability of many socio-demographic indicators of Bangladesh. Reducing Child Marriage is a major concern all over the world and Bangladesh is no exception. I am happy to know that the Department of Population Sciences, University of Dhaka is going to publish a report on the “Context of Child Marriage and Its Implications in Bangladesh”. As a country with a high prevalence of child marriage, this study is a timely intervention to address this issue. The United Nations Population Fund’s (UNFPA) effect to improve the capacity of the national institute is very much appreciative. I believe that conducting such an important study through the experts of a public university is a unique initiative of UNFPA. The experience and lessons learned by the department will be an asset for the future capacity development of the faculties at University level. At the same time ministries would also be benefited from the research and national level capacity development. As the data was collected on the consequences of child marriage on education, health, employment and overall wellbeing, concerned ministries and departments of the Government of Bangladesh should be able to utilize the findings to formulate as well as implement future programmes to support ending child marriage. I strongly believe that this study would encourage other faculty members of different departments to take initiatives to conduct such national level research in their respective fields. The Ministry will always try to support our brilliant academics to conduct and improve the quality and capacity of teaching and research. My sincere thanks to the UNFPA for providing financial and technical support to the Department of Population Sciences, University of Dhaka for conducting this important survey. I take the Opportunity to express my heartfelt thanks to the officials from the Secondary & Higher Eduction Division, Ministry of Education, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Dhaka, faculty members of the Department of Population Sciences for putting their intellectual and technical committee and the project team led by Mr. Bellal Hossain, Team Leader and Dr. Md. Aminul Haque, Project Director deserves special thanks for their relentless efforts in finalizing this report. I hope this report will be useful for the researchers, planners, policy makers and development partners who will reformulate as well as execute effective policy measures for achieving the goals outlined by the Honorable Prime Minister of Bangladesh to end child marriage (Md. Sohorab Hossain) iii MESSAGE I am delighted to note that the Department of Population Sciences, University of Dhaka is going to publish the research report on the Context of Child Marriage and Its Implications in Bangladesh. It gives me pleasure to write that this research has conducted by the Department of Population Sciences at the University of Dhaka. Bangladesh is a country which had a very high prevalence of child marriage. However, due to various initiatives taken by the Government of Bangladesh and NGOs the occurrence of child marriage has declined substantially in recent years. Despite the progress achieved so far in preventing child marriage in Bangladesh, child marriage is an important concern because of the wide range of consequences it has on the lives of females. The consequence includes discontinuation of education, lower possibility of labor force participation, perpetuation of poverty malnutrition, higher risk of maternal and child mortality and poor overall wellbeing. In this context, conducting a large-scale comprehensive study on child marriage bears great significance. I am sure, the findings of this study will provide a better understanding about the causes and consequences of child marriage in Bangladesh. More significantly, the study will also provide important guidelines for policy makers, NGOs and development partners in designing and implementing effective intervention programmes to prevent child marriage in Bangladesh. I would like to express my thanks to UNFPA Bangladesh for providing generous support to conduct this study. I hope that their support to the University of Dhaka will continue in future for addressing population issues in one hand and for capacity building on the other. I also congratulate the faculties of the Department of Population Sciences for conducting such an important study on child marriage in Bangladesh. (Professor Dr. Md. Aktaruzzaman) Vice-Chancellor v MESSAGE The Department of Population Sciences was established on 17 November 1998 under the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Dhaka with a view to making skilled and trained human resources in the field of Population, health and development. The department has undergraduate, masters, and post-graduate degree programs. Along with its academic programs, the department has strong faculty with expertise to conduct research on contemporary, national-level issues to meet gaps in the field. Bangladesh has one of the highest rates of child marriage prevalence in the world. In 2014, the prevalence rate of child marriage was 59.0 percent in Bangladesh. Every year millions of young girls get married as children. Child marriage exerts a wide range of implications on those who marry, including discontinuation of education; lowered possibility of labour force participation; perpetuation of poverty and malnutrition; higher risk of maternal and child mortality; as well as on their families and communities. Considering the significance of the issue, the Department conducted the in-depth study on the context of child marriage and its implications in Bangladesh. The findings of the study highlight the context of child marriage and major challenges for reducing the prevalence of it. Results of this study examined child marriage from a multi-dimensional perspective and generated evidence for formulating effective policies and strategies to deal with the issue. To know the deeper roots of child marriage, the study collected data from ever-married women and their families: husbands, fathers-in-law, mothers-in-law, fathers, and mothers. The findings of this report and its policy recommendations will be very useful for the government, donor agencies, NGOs, and researchers to understand the complex dynamics of child marriage and design policies to end it. It will provide context in order to implement existing programs related to child marriage and to design new initiatives to stop child marriage. We hope this study will provide more in-depth insights for future program formulation and effective implementation by academics, researchers, program personnel and the ministries of our government. The successful completion of the child marriage study was made possible by the contributions of a number of agencies and individuals. I would like to express my gratitude to the faculty members of the Department of Population Sciences, University of Dhaka for their every effort for the research. Special thanks to the Ministry of Education, University Grants Comissions for their extended hands in the process of approving the project. I sincerely appreciate the generous financial support provided by UNFPA, Bangladesh to the Department of Population Sciences for this research and hope that their