Female genital mutilation is a deeply entrenched practice in Senegal, usually affecting girls at a very young age. Despite ongoing
efforts, levels of FGM have stagnated for at least the last two decades. To meet SDG target 5.3 by 2030, Senegal needs to intensify and
accelerate investments in FGM prevention and response.
It is vital to increase political will and translate it into funded and coordinated multisectoral interventions. These must comprise proven
approaches that engage communities in dialogue and transform FGM-related social and gender norms. Positive norm changes are key
to engendering active surveillance at the community level to support enforcement of the law prohibiting FGM. Clear roles, objectives
and indicators need to be assigned to each sector that contributes to FGM abandonment, with clear accountability mechanisms.
Building a strong civil society movement opposing the practice is also essential to boost advocacy efforts and increase the demand for
change, including through political and religious leadership.
Senegal enacted a law in 1999 prohibiting FGM and implemented various action plans to end the practice. Abandonment of FGM is an
objective of the National Development Plan, and a national strategy is being prepared towards that end.
The Ministry of Family, Women, Gender and Child Protection leads strategy implementation, with the engagement of other ministries,
civil society organizations (CSOs) and UN agencies. Priority areas include:
Senegal’s programmatic response to FGM
1. Creating an enabling environment for the protection of girls’ rights:
Multisectoral coordination and accountability mechanisms are being
strengthened, including the National Board to End FGM at the central
government level and various platforms at decentralized levels, including
child protection committees led by local authorities. These platforms seek to
harmonize sectoral services and coordinate prevention and response efforts
by CSOs, particularly women and youth groups, and religious and community
leaders. Law enforcement is a central concern and a priority. Efforts are being
made to raise legal awareness, strengthen reporting, prosecute perpetrators and
improve accountability. Since FGM has major cross-border implications, joining
forces with neighbouring countries is essential. Efforts are also being made to
promote multisectoral policy commitments to the FGM national action plan, for
example, and to the mainstreaming of FGM in sectoral policies and institutions.
2. Social mobilization, community engagement and girls’ empowerment:
Senegal is focusing its efforts on promoting dialogue at the community level,
with the aim of involving both men and women, youth and elders, and health
and social workers in achieving consensus and commitment to the abandonment
of FGM. Community dialogues seek to broaden understanding of the adverse
effects of FGM while engaging religious leaders, whose influence is critical.
Through this process, adolescent girls have increased their sense of agency and
become empowered to speak out against FGM. All interventions aim to get at
the root causes of gender inequality.
3. Quality services for FGM prevention, protection and care: The capacity of
service providers to promote FGM abandonment and to respond to FGM cases
is being strengthened. Investments are under way to increase FGM survivors’
access to quality services, including adolescent-friendly reproductive health
and rights information and services, along with legal, psychosocial and medical
support.
4. Knowledge-generation: Evidence provides the groundwork for advocacy,
programming and the tracking of progress to end FGM. Gathering such evidence
entails the strengthening of monitoring and reporting mechanisms; administrative
data collection in related sectors, health in particular; an effective monitoring and
evaluation framework; and partnership with relevant research institutions.

24Female Genital Mutilation in Senegal: I nsights from a statistical analysis
To assess the prevalence of FGM, this analysis used
SDG indicator 5.3.2 – the proportion of girls and
women aged 15 to 49 years who have undergone
the practice.
The number of girls and women who have
undergone FGM is calculated based on the
population in 2019.
Confidence intervals are not shown in all figures in
this publication. Caution is therefore warranted in
interpreting the results since apparent differences
among groups may not be significant. Key message
titles for figures were developed in light of the
confidence intervals for all values. Where the title
indicates a difference among groups, it has been
confirmed as statistically significant.
Data on the circumstances around FGM in Senegal
are presented here as measured among girls aged
10 to 14 years. Since most FGM in Senegal occurs
before the age of 5, data on this age cohort provide
information on cutting that has occurred relatively
recently, whereas data on FGM among older women
reflect cutting that occurred many decades ago.
The prevalence of FGM has been measured in
several surveys in Senegal. The results, particularly
at the subnational level, have been inconsistent over
time. This is especially the case when evaluating
trends in the prevalence of FGM, by comparing
levels among older women to those among younger
girls. In most surveys, the results appear to show
steady levels over time. Yet, the results across
surveys are inconsistent with one another, often
showing very different absolute levels. This issue
affects the regions in which FGM is most commonly
practised, which also happen to be more sparsely
populated. This makes it difficult to conclude
with certainty what the levels of FGM are in the
practising population groups, and whether there has
been any change in the practice over time.
To address this issue, the approach used in this
publication to assess trends consisted of pooling
data from all available surveys and fitting prevalence
lines using predicted values. The analysis was limited
to time periods for which multiple data sources were
available, to avoid relying too heavily on any single
data source. Trends in the prevalence of FGM at the
national level were calculated using data from the
Senegal DHS in 2005, 2010-2011, 2012-2014, 2015,
2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.
Regional analysis was informed by data from
surveys that were designed to be representative at
the regional level, including the DHS 2005, 2010-
2011, 2012-2014 and 2017. Results from the DHS
2005 were not used for regions that were not yet
created or whose boundaries changed after 2005.
Estimates for each age cohort were validated across
surveys and, on this basis, some data were excluded
from the trend calculation in cases where levels
were very inconsistent and therefore inconclusive.
The estimates that were informed by data from only
one survey were dropped, since they could not be
validated. This meant dropping estimates for the
period after 2014, which are only informed by the
2017 survey. This includes the latest estimates from
the 2017 survey that could not be validated.
It is also important to note that, over the last two
decades, there have been significant shifts in the
population distribution between rural regions and
the areas around the Dakar region, which may also
confound regional trends. For all these reasons,
caution is warranted in interpreting the
trend results.
Technical notes

CHILD MARRIAGE IN WEST
AND CENTRAL AFRICA
Child marriage violates girls’ rights to health,
education and employment. It exposes them
to violence and traps them, their families, and
their nations in a cycle of intergenerational
poverty, thereby costing countries billions of
dollars and preventing them from achieving
sustainable development.1 West and Central
Africa hosts the three countries with the
highest prevalence of child marriage in
the world: Niger, Central African Republic
and Chad. The region has the highest child
marriage rate and the fastest population
growth in the world. Without immediate
action, the number of child brides will
continue to increase, with devastating
consequences for the sub-region. 2,3 Without
concerted and accelerated efforts to end child
marriage, countries in West and Central Africa
will not be able to achieve the demographic
dividend and eight of the Sustainable
Development Goals.4

CHILD MARRIAGE IN WEST AND CENTRAL AFRICACHILD MARRIAGE: A PRESSING ISSUE ACROSS
WEST AND CENTRAL AFRICA
Child marriage is harmful to large numbers of girls in the
region, many of whom are younger than 15 years old.
• Four in ten women aged 20-24 in West and Central
Africa were married by the age of 18. Of those, one
third were married by age 15.5
• While child marriage exists in all African countries,
this issue is especially pressing in West and Central
Africa, which hosts six out of the ten countries with
the highest rates of child marriage in the world.6
• All countries in West and Central Africa face this
issue, whether they have extremely high child
marriage prevalence, such as Niger (76%) or lower
rates like Cape Verde (18%). Rates can vary within
countries too.7
2
Country8 Child marriage prevalence (%)9
Niger 76
Central African Republic (CAR) 68
Chad 67
Mali 55
Burkina Faso 52
Guinea 52
Nigeria 43
Sierra Leone 39
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) 37
Liberia 36
São Tomé and Príncipe 35
Mauritania, 34
Côte d'Ivoire 33
Congo 33
Cameroon 31
Senegal 31
Equatorial Guinea 30
The Gambia 30
Angola 30
Benin 26
Guinea-Bissau 24
Gabon 22
Togo 22
Ghana 21
Burundi 20
Cape Verde 18
Rwanda 7
CHILD MARRIAGE PREVALENCE IN WEST AND CENTRAL AFRICA (ECOWAS AND ECCAS COUNTRIES)
55%34%
31%
30%
Mali
Mauritania
Senegal
The Gambia
18%
Cape
Verde
24% 39%
52%
36%
Burkina
Faso
Guinea
Sierra
Leone
Liberia
Guinea-
Bissau 33%
Côte
d’Ivoire
21%
Ghana
52%
76% 67%
68%
22%
26%
Togo
Benin
São Tomé and Príncipe
Equatorial
Guinea
30%
35%
43%
31%
33%
22% 37%
Niger
Central African
Republic (CAR)
Chad
Nigeria
Democratic Republic of
the Congo (DRC)
Congo
Cameroon
Gabon Burundi
Rwanda
7%
20%
30%
Angola

CHILD MARRIAGE IN WEST AND CENTRAL AFRICACHILD MARRIAGE: A COMPLEX PRACTICE
CAUSED BY MULTIPLE FACTORS
Child marriage takes different forms and happens for
different reasons across countries. Yet similarities exist
across the sub-region:
• It is rooted in gender inequality. In West and Central
Africa like in the rest of the world, women and girls
are valued much less than men and boys, and often
have little say in decisions that affect them and
their community.10 As a result, they also lack the
confidence and knowledge to access the few support
services available at the local and the national level.
• It is linked to family honour. Child marriage is often
perceived as a way to control girls’ sexuality as soon
as possible, thereby safeguarding their virginity and
family honour, legitimising sexual relationships and
births, and avoiding perceived shame of pregnancy
outside marriage.11
• It is influenced by the socio-economic environment.
Girls in rural areas of West and Central Africa who
have little or no education are more likely to be
married before the age of 18.12 Poverty exacerbates
the practice; the poorest families often see child
marriage as a way to provide for a daughter’s
future.13 A weak formal labour market, difficult access
to school or low quality education often means that
families have even fewer alternatives for their girls.
Where opportunities are limited, girls themselves
might also want to marry to gain more respect
through the status of being a married woman.14
• It is connected to religion and tradition. Most
marriages in West and Central Africa are religious
and traditional and many are not registered civilly.15
This is especially important to consider when
designing legal solutions to child marriage. Child
marriage is not associated with one particular
religion, but religious texts are often open to
interpretation, and in some areas people use them
to condone the practice.16 Other communities
identify tradition as a stronger factor sustaining
child marriage.17 In some cases child marriage has
been traditionally used to settle disputes.18
• It is linked to social norms. Wide social networks
play an important role in decisions that affect
individuals. Thus the decision-making process for
marrying girls off often involves several community
members.19 Identifying and working with those actors
is key to achieving attitude and behaviour change.
• It is exacerbated in humanitarian contexts.
Conflict, environmental crises and forced
displacement aggravate the causes of child marriage
in the Sahel region. Families in these contexts may
marry off their girls to cope with extreme situations
and attempt to protect girls from increased
violence.20 In Chad, Cameroon and Nigeria, child
marriage is a commonly reported form of violence
among young refugee girls.21 Armed groups have
also abducted girls who then experience various
forms of violence including child marriage.22
3

CHILD MARRIAGE IN WEST AND CENTRAL AFRICACHILD MARRIAGE: AN OBSTACLE TO WEST AND
CENTRAL AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVES
With the second highest economic growth of the
continent, West and Central Africa has the potential
to lead on the achievement of Africa’s development
objectives. 23 Yet a number of issues are holding it back,
and child marriage is one of them.
• Child marriage often curtails girls’ education.
While child marriage is not always the reason for
school dropout,24 girls often leave school just before
marriage or shortly afterwards when their marital
and domestic demands increase. 25
• It has dramatic health consequences for young
mothers. Child marriage and early pregnancy are
closely linked; nine out of ten births to adolescent
mothers in developing countries occur within
marriage or within a union.26 They are major factors
for high maternal and child mortality in the region.
West and Central Africa has some of the highest
adolescent birth rates in the world27 ; 28% of young
women in the region gave birth before 18 and 6%
before 15. 28 Yet young mothers face a range of health
risks such as obstetric fistula, and complications
from early pregnancy and childbirth are the leading
cause of death for adolescent girls.29 30 Child
brides are less likely to use contraceptives, which
can lead to both shorter births spacing and a later
end to childbearing. 31 Ensuring access to youth-
friendly sexual and reproductive health education
and services will help reduce risks linked to early
pregnancy. 32
• It is harmful to child brides’ new-borns too.
In low- and middle-income countries, babies born
to mothers under age 20 have a 50% higher risk
of being still born or of dying within their first few
weeks than those born to older women. 33
• It exposes girls to a greater risk of contracting HIV
and sexually transmitted infections. Married girls
usually use less contraception than their unmarried
counterparts and have less power to negotiate
safe sex, especially when they marry older men.34
Only four percent of married girls in West and
Central Africa use modern contraception; this is
the lowest rate in the world.35
• It exposes girls to various forms of violence. Child
brides are more likely to suffer from intimate partner
violence, including sexual, physical, psychological and
emotional violence.36 In Cameroon, Chad, Democratic
Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Liberia, São Tomé
and Príncipe and Sierra Leone, most girls aged 15 to
19 years who experienced sexual violence said the
perpetrator was an intimate partner.37
• It traps girls and their family in a cycle of
intergenerational poverty by cutting short girls’
education, pushing them into early, unplanned
and repeated pregnancies, and limiting their
opportunities for employment.
• It costs billions to West and Central African
countries’ economies. By curtailing education,
it reduces girls’ expected earnings later in life by
9%. Through lost earnings, child marriage is costing
Nigeria $7.6 billion. A recent study on the economic
costs of child marriage indicated that child marriage
is costing trillions to the global economy.38
• It prevents the achievement of the demographic
dividend. As child brides are likely to have more
children, achieving the demographic dividend
is more challenging in countries with high rates
of child marriage.39 Ending child marriage and
early childbirths could reduce population growth
significantly. 40 Addressing child marriage in the
region will not only change the lives of millions of
girls, but it will also provide a critical window of opportunity
for harnessing Africa’s demographic dividend.41
4

CHILD MARRIAGE IN WEST AND CENTRAL AFRICAMOMENTUM TO ADDRESS CHILD MARRIAGE IN
WEST AND CENTRAL AFRICA IS GROWING
Governments and regional institutions have taken
important steps towards addressing child marriage.
However, only strong implementation of commitments
will produce concrete change in the region.
• In most West and Central African countries, the
law has yet to fully protect girls from marriage.
Almost all countries have ratified major regional and
international human rights conventions, which state
that marriage should not be allowed for boys and
girls under 18 years old.42 Yet national laws still allow
marriage before 18 – either because the minimum
age of marriage is lower, or because there are
exceptions (such as parental consent) to enforcing
18 as the minimum age of marriage. Laws can also
be contradictory, like in Niger where the customary
laws, sharia law, and the civil code include different
provisions related to marriage, or in Nigeria where
legal frameworks vary across different states. 43
A review of laws in five countries in the region,
found that only Ghana had unequivocal legislation
that set the age of marriage at 18 years for both
girls and boys, with no exceptions.44
• West and Central African governments are
increasingly making commitments through regional
and international institutions. As part of the African
Union, Members States made a commitment to
end child marriage on the continent. The African
Union’s fifty-year vision for development (Agenda
2063) stresses the need to end child marriage
and other harmful practices affecting women and
girls.45 The African Common Position urges States
to develop comprehensive action plans to end child
marriage and establish and enforce laws to set the
minimum age of marriage at 18.46 Governments in
fourteen countries in West and Central Africa have
also launched the African Union Campaign to End
Child Marriage to raise awareness about this issue
on a large scale.47 At the sub-regional level, the new
strategic framework on national child protection
systems of the Economic Community of West
African States (ECOWAS) identifies child marriage
as a priority area for efforts by Member States in the
next five years. It includes strategies to address child
marriage and an indicator to measure progress on
this issue, which is in line with the one used in the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).48 Countries
also made commitments at the international level,
especially to achieve the SDGs, whose target 5.3 is
to end child marriage and female genital mutilation/
cutting (FGM/C).
• Targeted national initiatives are in the early stages
of implementation. Several countries have been
developing national strategies or action plans that
aim to provide a holistic and coordinated response
to child marriage. Burkina Faso, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire,
Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Nigeria,
Senegal and Togo are all at different stages of this
process, however few countries have turned to
implementation.
• Governments are increasingly collaborating with
other key actors. With the support of donors and
the UNICEF-UNFPA Global Programme on child
marriage, governments, international organisations
and UN agencies in Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana,
Niger and Nigeria have organised multi-actor
platforms to address child marriage through
coordinated advocacy initiatives.
Civil society has taken important steps towards a more
coordinated and comprehensive response to child
marriage in the sub-region.
• Civil society organisations are joining forces.
A growing number of civil society coalitions to
end child marriage have been created, and could be
strategic partners for governments. At least eight
civil society national coalitions exist in Benin, Burkina
Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Senegal
and Togo. Civil society organisations have also joined
multi-actor platforms to ensure greater collaboration
on efforts to end child marriage in their countries.
• Innovative programmes are being implemented.
A myriad of grassroots, national and regional
organisations use interesting approaches to address
the practice but mostly in a non-coordinated way.
Examples of approaches include using action-
research to support context-specific interventions
to address the practice; implementing holistic
community-led programmes that facilitate
conversations about values and practices in a non-
judgmental way; empowering married girls including
in crisis settings, by providing or supporting access
to health and legal advice, counselling, income-
generating activities and life skills; working with
5

CHILD MARRIAGE IN WEST AND CENTRAL AFRICAmultiple actors to influence effective government
educational policies.
• Girls and young people are recognised as key actors
to lead the movement. Committed youth champions
are speaking up across the continent, informing
and supporting their peers who are at risk of child
marriage or have already married, and holding their
governments to account for their international and
regional commitments to end the practice.
The international development community is
supporting national efforts to strengthen and scale up
programmes to end child marriage in the sub-region.
• UN agencies and development partners have scaled
up their investments in child marriage. The UNFPA-
UNICEF Global Programme to Accelerate Action to
End Child Marriage is a large scale, multi-country
programme supported by Canada, EU, Netherlands
and the UK. It offers a framework promoting the right
of girls to delay marriage, addressing the conditions
that keep the practice in place, and caring for girls
already in union in response to SDG 5.3.1. It is part
of global efforts to end child marriage in partnership
with governments, civil society and young people.
Of the twelve countries covered through the
programme, four are in West and Central Africa:
Burkina Faso, Ghana, Niger and Sierra Leone.49
• However, more support is needed from donors.
While donor governments and private foundations
have been champions in the movement, more
funding from diversified sources is required to
support efforts by grassroots groups working
directly with those affected, and scale up the
prevention of child marriage and support to married
girls in the region. In particular, targeted investment
in education and health programmes for girls, as
well as in initiatives which tackle social norm change
over the long term are needed.
Recommendations: Government leadership is essential
to end child marriage in West and Central Africa
• Governments must lead a comprehensive, large-scale
response to child marriage. This means combining
four key strategies: empowering girls, mobilising
families and communities to change attitudes and
behaviours related to child marriage, providing
adequate services to girls at risk of child marriage and
to married girls, and establishing and implementing
consistent laws and policies that protect and promote
the rights of girls. This involves developing and
implementing costed national strategies and action
plans, or integrating child marriage into strategies and
plans for women, girls or children in related sectors, in
order to match the scale of the issue.
• An effective response to child marriage requires
strong partnerships between actors (e.g. civil
society, young people, religious and traditional
leaders, etc.), sectors (e.g. education, health, justice,
etc.), and levels (national, district, etc.). Governments
are uniquely placed to coordinate efforts to end
child marriage through inclusive and functioning
coordination mechanisms. These are critical to
ensuring alignment between various stakeholders,
to maximise impact of joint initiatives and to
generate coherence and coordination between
sectoral programmes and policies at all levels.
• Action to end child marriage must be evidence-
based. Countries in West and Central Africa must
invest in solutions that are proven to work. While
extensive efforts are underway at the regional
and sub-regional level to document and evaluate
solutions to end child marriage, further research is
needed to better understand how effective solutions
can be tailored and taken to scale.
• More investment from high-prevalence countries’
governments is needed to improve essential services
and systems, including in the education, health,
social protection and justice sectors.
• More investment from development partners and
the donor community is needed to support and
scale up existing efforts to prevent child marriage
and support married girls, especially at the
community level. It is critical to ensure efforts by
grassroots groups working directly with those
affected benefit from sustainable support.
• Efforts to end child marriage at the country
level must align with continental and global
commitments. This includes commitments in the
African Union charters, protocols and initiatives
that relate to child marriage, as well as global
standards and frameworks such as the Sustainable
Development Goals. Existing accountability
mechanisms need to be used to monitor
implementation of these commitments, incentivise
progress and investment, and accelerate efforts.
6

CHILD MARRIAGE IN WEST AND CENTRAL AFRICA
1
World Bank and International Center for
Research on Women, The Economic Impacts
of Child Marriage: Global Synthesis Brief,
2017.
2
If no change happens in Africa, the number
of women married as children will double
by 2050. UNICEF, Ending child marriage:
progress and prospects, 2014.
3
UNICEF, Generation 2030: Africa, 2014.
4
Goal 1 on poverty, goal 2 on hunger, goal
3 on good health and wellbeing, goal 4 on
quality education, goal 5 on gender equality,
goal 8 on economic growth, goal 10 on
reducing inequalities, and goal 16 on peace,
justice and strong institutions. Girls Not
Brides, How ending child marriage is critical
to achieving the Sustainable Development
Goals, 2016.
5
UNICEF global database, September 2017.
6
Ibid.
7
ICRW and UNICEF, Child marriage,
Adolescent pregnancy and Family formation
in West and Central Africa, 2015.
8
As this factsheet was prepared ahead of the
High Level Meeting on Ending Child Marriage
in West and Central Africa in October 2017,
this table also includes Angola, Burundi and
Rwanda to cover both ECOAWS and ECCAS
member states.
9
Percentage of women 20-24 years old who
were first married or in union before 18.
10
Op.Cit, ICRW and UNICEF, 2015.
11
In Mali, Niger and Senegal, concerns about
family honour was found to be much
stronger than poverty in driving child
marriage. Plan International, Family honour
and shattered dreams: girls brides in Mali,
Niger and Senegal, 2017; Op.Cit, ICRW and
UNICEF, 2015; African Union, The effects
of traditional and religious practices of
child marriage on Africa’s socio-economic
development, 2015.
12
Op.Cit, ICRW and UNICEF, 2015.
13
International Center for Research on
Women, How to End Child Marriage:
Action Strategies for Prevention and
Protection, 2007.
14
Conversation with Girls Not Brides members
in Cameroon, 2017.
15
Conversations with Girls Not Brides
members across 5 countries; Op.Cit. Plan
international, 2017.
16
Religious interpretation was identified as
an important driver in Cameroon, Chad, and
Nigeria by ICRW. Op.Cit, ICRW, 2007; Op.Cit,
ICRW and UNICEF, 2015.
17
Religious affiliation was not identified as the
main driver of child marriage in Mali, Niger
and Senegal. Op.Cit, Plan International, 2015.
18
In rural Ghana, Benin and Togo for example,
a disputed traditional practice called Trokosi
consists in sending a young virgin girl
to compensate harm caused by a crime
committed by a family member. Op.Cit.
African Union, 2015.
19
In Mali, Niger and Senegal, fathers and
paternal uncles are the main decision makers.
Op.Cit. Plan International, 2017; Op.Cit,
ICRW and UNICEF, 2015.
20
Girls Not Brides, Child marriage in
humanitarian settings, 2017.
21
Conversations with Girls Not Brides
members in these countries, 2017; UNHCR,
Annual report on SGBV incidents among
refugees in Chad, 2016.
22
Human Rights Watch, Those terrible weeks
in their camp: Boko Haram violence against
women and girls in northeast Nigeria, 2014;
New York.
23
West and Central Africa has had the second
highest economic growth rates in Africa in
the past couple of years. AfDB, OECD, UNDP,
African economic outlook, 2016.
24
In contexts like Niger where school
enrollment rates are among the lowest in the
world, the impact of child marriage on school
dropout is not as significant. Op.Cit. Plan
International, 2017.
25
Center for Universal Education, Why ending
child marriage needs to be an educational
goal: the case for improved coordination
between ending child marriage and girls’
education movements in West Africa, 2013.
26
UNFPA, Motherhood in Childhood: Facing
the challenge of adolescent pregnancy, State
of World Population, 2013.
27 130 births per 1,000 girls. UNICEF, State of
the world’s children, 2016.
28
Op.Cit. UNFPA, 2013.
29
Adolescent girls aged 15-19 globally. WHO,
Global Accelerated Action for the Health of
Adolescents (AA-HA!): Guidance to support
country implementation, 2017.
30
UNFPA, Position Paper “Why addressing
child marriage and adolescent pregnancy
is essential to achieve the demographic
dividend in West and Central Africa”.
Publication forthcoming in October 2017.
31
UNFPA, Facing the facts, Adolescent girls
and contraception, 2016.
32
Op.Cit. ICRW and UNICEF, 2015.
33
WHO Guidelines, Preventing early
pregnancy and poor reproductive outcomes
among adolescents in developing countries,
2011; Op.Cit.,UNFPA, 2013.
34
Op.Cit.,WHO, 2011; Op.Cit. UNFPA, 2013.
35
Compared to 15 percent worldwide for
adolescent aged 15-19. Op.Cit. UNFPA, 2016.
36
UNICEF, Hidden in Plain Sight: A Statistical
Analysis of Violence against Children, 2014.
37
Perpetrator for the first incident of violence.
UNICEF global databases 2017, based on
Demographic and Health Surveys and other
nationally representative sources.
38
Op.Cit. World Bank and International Center
for Research on Women, 2017.
39
Op.Cit. UNFPA, Publication forthcoming in
October 2017.
40
If child marriage were ended today,
population size would be 2.45 percent
smaller in 15 countries, including six in the West
and Central Africa. Op.Cit., World Bank and
International Center for Research on Women,
2017.
41
UNFPA, Investing in Adolescents and Youth
to Realize the Demographic Dividend in the West
and Central Africa, 2016.
42
For instance, the Convention on the Rights
of the Child, the African Charter on the
Rights and Welfare of the child and the
Maputo protocol. African Commission on
Human and People’s Rights, ratification
tables. Accessed on 30 August 2017.
43
UNFPA, Review adolescents and youth
policies, strategies and laws in selected
countries in West Africa, 2016.
44
Ibid.
45
African Union, ACERWC, The Addis Ababa
Declaration on ending child marriage in
Africa, 2014.
46
African Union, African Common Position on
the AU Campaign to End Child Marriage in
Africa 2015.
47
Niger, Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic
Republic of Congo, Mali, Ghana, The Gambia,
Senegal, Sierra Leone, Cameroon, Nigeria,
Liberia, Benin and Guinea (in chronological
order).
48
ECOWAS, Strategic Framework for
Strengthening National Child Protection
Systems to prevent and respond to Violence,
Abuse and Exploitation against Children in
West Africa.
49
UNICEF, UNFPA, Ending child marriage,
2016.
END NOTES
PHOTO CREDITS
7
Photo credits in order of appearance: Niger – Save the Children; Democratic Republic of Congo – Tim Dirven/Panos;
Chad – Alfredo Caliz/Panos; Niger – UNFPA; Senegal - Plan International/Abdourahmane Diouf; Ghana – Nyani Quarmyne/Panos.
Printed October 2017