Research on Early And Forced Marriage in Poor Urban Areas of Bangladesh

Urban Partnerships for Poverty Reduction (UPPR) is Bangladesh’s primary urban poverty initiative, which has been working with communities in 23 towns and cities across the country since 2008 to reduce urban poverty by sustainably improving the livelihoods and living conditions of 3 million poor and extreme poor people living in urban areas, especially women and children. The Socio-Economic Fund (SEF) under UPPR supports a range of interventions to enable the poor people living in urban areas graduating permanently from inter-generational poverty. This fund also addresses social issues concerning women and the programme carries out a campaign to sensitize households against early marriage, early pregnancy, dowry, and violence against women. UPPR Education grant targets girls who are at higher risk of getting withdrawn from schools and eventually married off at an early age. Early and Forced Marriage (EFM) has been identified as a major concern and priority area of intervention under UPPR. As UNICEF (2014) data suggests, globally EFM among girls is most common in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa; the 10 countries with the highest rates are found in these two regions. Bangladesh has the highest incidence of early marriage in the region (74%).This study has been commissioned by UPPR to explore the issue of EFM in poor urban areas in greater depth and provide a priority focus for the future urban programming to reduce EFM. The study attempts to establish the drivers of early marriage and understand the attitudes of community members to EFM in poor urban areas of Bangladesh; identify the perceived challenges and solutions to EFM; and, recommend priority focus for addressing the issue in future urban programming. The study used both secondary and primary data. An in-depth literature review was undertaken to document international best practices and also to identify gaps in the existing literature. Primary data was collected, in March 2015, by adopting a qualitative approach using Key Informant Interviews, Focus Group Discussions and other participatory exercises. A range of stakeholders, including community members and leaders, national and local government officials, UN agencies and UPPR, international and local NGOs were consulted in Dhaka, Jessore and Tangail.