tag:theconversation.com,2011:/institutions/university-of-energy-and-natural-resources-2550/articlesThe University of Energy and Natural Resources2023-06-18T09:02:50Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2054972023-06-18T09:02:50Z2023-06-18T09:02:50ZCustomary land governance holds in Ghana. But times are changing and not for the better<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530362/original/file-20230606-19-ftxq2f.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Land ownership disputes are a common feature in Ghana's legal system</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Ghana went into colonisation with two broad types of customary land arrangement. In one, a traditional leader was the custodian of the land and gave his followers equitable access to it. In the other, there was no traditional leader. </p>
<p>Colonial administrators then made their mark on the land ownership regime, and since independence change has continued through <a href="https://faolex.fao.org/docs/pdf/gha163491.pdf">national policies</a>. Another influence on land use has been globalisation, which exposes rural land to large-scale transactions and takeovers. Changes in the inheritance system, mainly from matrilineal (through women) to patrilineal (through men), are also a factor. </p>
<p>All these changes have been grafted on to the customary land regime, distorting how it works.</p>
<p>As an <a href="https://gga.org/author/david-anaafo/">academic</a> researching sustainability and pro-poor land policy, I am interested in the rights that come from customary governance of land. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23311886.2023.2209366">research</a> I did with colleagues set out to explore the stability of rights in Ghana’s land governance system. We did this through a review of court cases and studies of land rights in Ghana. </p>
<p>We found that traditional leaders – formerly custodians of the land – have become absolute land owners. This is weakening the customary land system. With their new powers, traditional authorities have become a large conduit for transfers of land. </p>
<p>There’s a risk that this will deprive communal users of the land.</p>
<p>We argue that whatever changes are made through policy or regulatory reforms, they should recognise long established and communally held interests in land.</p>
<h2>Stability of customary land rights in Ghana</h2>
<p>Our study established that about 80% of all land in Ghana is under some form of customary governance. The chieftaincy institution itself, which regulates customary land rights, is recognised under Chapter 22 of the <a href="https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Ghana_1996.pdf">constitution</a>. Chiefs are supposed to be guardians of the land. They have the capacity to make rules and to induce or coerce compliance. Their decisions are not always popular. </p>
<p>Land rights take a number of forms. We looked at which ones have been most stable over time.</p>
<p>The right of access is the most basic. Our study found that it was the most stable among the rights available to land users. Customarily, some farmlands cannot be accessed on some days of the week, but the practice is merely an exercise of cultural and religious beliefs. It’s not intended to deprive members of the public from accessing any piece of land. The right to access land should not translate into a right of ownership, as Ghana’s courts have made clear in several rulings (such as Bimpong v Bawuah 1991). </p>
<p>Use or withdrawal rights are the next level. They are the rights to obtain resources from a piece of land. In most Ghanaian communities, some people have rights which are supposed to be perpetual and inheritable. They guarantee unlimited access to family and clan lands for whatever uses, subject only to restrictions from the family or clan head. Other members of the public, until recently, could obtain use rights over land through sharecropping arrangements, grants and rentals. In recent times the commonest ways of gaining access to land for use are rentals and sales. Sharecropping and grants are seldom practised. Rights to use land are under pressure because what was a common resource has become a commodity.</p>
<p>The highest on the hierarchy of rights are the rights to exclude or alienate. Individuals who have private title to land can exclude others from entry, or sell the land to any other person as provided by law. But when it comes to land customarily owned, only the clan and family heads and chiefs can exercise the right to exclude. Some of these individuals are exercising powers akin to ownership and this is resulting in indiscriminate sale of lands. The practice spells danger for future land access and use for other people. Private land owners are also now restricting access.</p>
<p>In sum, we found that access rights remain the most stable. Use and withdrawal rights are under severe stress. Exclusion and alienation rights are very stable because they strengthen chiefs’ authority over land. But they have become a conduit for the widespread sale of land. This has consequences for access, use and management rights.</p>
<h2>Abuse and resilience</h2>
<p>Customary guardians of the land have the support of increasingly liberal policies and laws. These policies seem to be well intended – to reduce double sales of land, improve land investment, and protect private property. But they enable customary holders to alienate the land.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00083968.2017.1303390">Studies</a> have <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X1300082X?via%3Dihub">shown</a> that liberal policies have resulted in a growing tendency of titleholders to abuse their powers. Land is being sold that should be held in trust for members of the landowning group. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2013.03.006">One study</a> found that over 2 million hectares of land had been acquired in Ghana. There are no checks and balances on the exercise of those powers. </p>
<p>As a result, the customary land governance system in rural Ghanaian communities is crumbling. Traditional routes to access and use land are gradually being substituted by cash transactions. The chieftaincy institution has become a convenient conduit for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.04.033">large-scale land transfers</a>, a situation unintended by customary arrangements. It has the potential of depriving customary users of their rights to land in the future. </p>
<p>We argue that Ghana’s customary land governance system has been resilient over the years, as it guarantees access to land for various users. Rather than adopting policies and programmes which seek to liberalise it, Ghana should build on the customary land system to ensure that it responds the needs of the diverse users.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205497/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Anaafo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Reforms to land policies and regulations are enabling the traditional custodians of the land in Ghana to transfer ownership. Communal land users could lose their basic rights.David Anaafo, Senior Lecturer, Planning and Sustainability, University of Energy and Natural ResourcesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1646602021-08-04T14:52:16Z2021-08-04T14:52:16ZBushmeat in Ghana: consumer profiles may point the way to conservation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414308/original/file-20210803-19-1ec3hms.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Bush meat consumption is enjoying a renaissance in Ghana</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/go2net/8633744961">Wikimedia Commons/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The bushmeat trade – meat from wild animals – continues to soar, mainly in unregulated and illegal markets worldwide. Ghana is one such market. One reason is that it’s a source of <a href="http://www.fao.org/3/w7540e/w7540e08.htm#3.1.2.%20income%20from%20hunting">income</a> for poor rural households. </p>
<p>It’s also an important source of nutrition. In West and Central Africa, bushmeat contributes about <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7126303/">80%-90% of the animal protein needs</a> in certain rural areas.</p>
<p>Previous studies of bushmeat consumption in Ghana have focused narrowly on a few cities. My colleagues and I conducted a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10549811.2021.1944881">study</a> to broaden the scope to urban and rural households in Ghana’s three major ecological zones. We aimed to analyse individual consumer demographies and provide insights on different consumer segments. This could be used for public campaigns to change behaviours or promote domesticated bushmeat for sustainable forestry management. </p>
<p>The study revealed some differences in consumption between regions. It also led us to recommend safe meat harvesting strategies for conservationists.</p>
<h2>Segmenting markets and consumers</h2>
<p>The study was conducted in the three main ecological zones of Ghana. These are the high forest, transitional and savannah zones. The high forest zone has forest reserves containing species that are important for biodiversity in Ghana. A variety of wild game is hunted as bushmeat for the major markets in these areas. </p>
<p>The transitional zone has attributes of both the high forest and savannah zones. The Techiman market is located here, and because it is geographically a link between the north and south of Ghana, a high inflow of bushmeat is traded in this market. </p>
<p>In the savannah zone, we looked at Sene West, a district that has a major market centre and a national park. </p>
<p>In total, we interviewed 400 consumers. We focused on 14 variables including age, education, gender, household size, job and religion. People’s feelings about nutrition, taste, disease, fear of poisoning and bushmeat preference were considered. We also looked at the price and availability of bushmeat.</p>
<p>About 67% of the respondents were bushmeat consumers. The most preferred bushmeat was grasscutter, a type of cane rat. Two antelope species (<a href="https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Philantomba_maxwellii/">Maxwell’s duiker</a> and <a href="https://animalia.bio/black-duiker">black duiker</a>) were also popular. </p>
<p>Three variables were associated with not eating bushmeat: price, the age of the person, and their religion. The quantity of bushmeat consumed was influenced by fear of contracting diseases and of eating bushmeat contaminated with poison. </p>
<p>Consumption was associated with perceived positive taste, nutrients and availability. Consumers ate greater quantities of bushmeat if it came from a local eatery (known as a ‘chop bar’) and if it was smoked. </p>
<p>Consumers were more likely to be young, except for those in the forest zone. Where livestock meat was more available and affordable, bushmeat was less likely to be eaten. In the forest and transitional zones, more educated people were less likely to eat bushmeat. But in the savannah zone higher education meant higher income and a greater likelihood of eating bushmeat, which is more expensive in this zone. </p>
<p>Consumers did not seem concerned about contracting diseases or consuming poison from bushmeat – except in the savannah zone. </p>
<p>We also discovered that religion is sometimes a factor in whether people eat bushmeat. For example, many Muslims require certain rituals to be conducted while slaughtering an animal – which isn’t usually done in bushmeat hunting. In the high forest zone, where the predominant ethnic group is Akan, some animals are culturally off limits but others can be eaten.</p>
<p>Unsurprisingly, chop bars emerged as the primary source of bushmeat for consumers. These local eateries are widely known for their diverse bushmeat offerings. </p>
<h2>Consumption and conservation</h2>
<p>The study results revealed that even though bushmeat consumption remains popular with some older people, there is an emerging market segment dominated by younger people. </p>
<p>With regard to forest management, the study recommends that the Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission of Ghana enforce laws requiring only licensed chop-bar operators to sell bushmeat across the ecological zones, particularly in the transitional zone. </p>
<p>The public and chop-bar operators should be educated about buying wild game from licensed bushmeat hunters and sellers to prevent overharvesting.</p>
<p>Suppliers and producers of domesticated wild game should aim to maintain the taste of the meat while making it safe to eat. They should avoid using poison in harvesting and follow husbandry practices to reduce the likelihood of diseases that can spread from animals to people.</p>
<p>Marketing of domesticated wild game should target the younger group of consumers as they are less likely to be price-sensitive and more likely to buy in high quantities. A modern approach to marketing (such as digital marketing) might attract these consumers.</p>
<p>For conservationists and the government, religion and culture could serve to discourage the overharvesting of bushmeat from the wild.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164660/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Kwasi Bannor does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>For conservationists and the government, religion and culture could serve to discourage the overharvesting of bushmeat from the wildRichard Kwasi Bannor, Senior Lecturer, Agribusiness, University of Energy and Natural ResourcesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/608752016-06-22T14:25:28Z2016-06-22T14:25:28ZGhana’s school feeding scheme is slowly changing children’s lives<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126731/original/image-20160615-14057-15cyyi1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Children struggle to learn when they're hungry.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Bruno Domingos </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Millions of Ghanaian children <a href="http://uni.cf/1UOReAB">live in poverty</a>. About one in ten – roughly 1.27 million – come from households that are so poor they <a href="http://uni.cf/1UOReAB">can’t afford</a> the amount and type of food that’s needed to stave off malnutrition. </p>
<p>Without proper food, children are prone to stunted growth or are underweight for their age. And their schooling suffers, too: <a href="http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001429/142929eo.pdf">research</a> has <a href="http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0017/001780/178022e.pdf">repeatedly shown</a> that children struggle to learn when they are not properly fed and nourished. </p>
<p>A school feeding programme introduced by the Ghanaian government more than a decade ago has gone some way to tackling the problem of hunger. The programme has reached millions of children – and it’s been proved to keep them in school far longer than their hungry peers. Now some more work is needed to make the project sustainable and to ensure it doesn’t constantly have to rely on donor funds.</p>
<h2>Millions of children reached</h2>
<p>The <a href="http://www.schoolfeeding.gov.gh/">Ghana School Feeding Programme</a> was initiated in 2005 by the country’s government in collaboration with the Dutch government. Its primary objectives are to increase school enrolment, attendance and retention among children in kindergartens and primary schools. It also, of course, aims to reduce hunger and malnutrition. </p>
<p>The programme started as a pilot project with ten schools, one from each of Ghana’s ten regions. This was later increased to 298 schools, reaching about 234,000 children in 138 schooling districts. In March 2016, it was reaching more than 1.7 million children every day – about 30% of all Ghanaian primary and kindergarten pupils.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126476/original/image-20160614-29216-1wo1pma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126476/original/image-20160614-29216-1wo1pma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126476/original/image-20160614-29216-1wo1pma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126476/original/image-20160614-29216-1wo1pma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126476/original/image-20160614-29216-1wo1pma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126476/original/image-20160614-29216-1wo1pma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126476/original/image-20160614-29216-1wo1pma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126476/original/image-20160614-29216-1wo1pma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Children line up for a meal at their school in Ghana.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Supplied</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Each day, children receive a hot, nutritious meal. This is made up of locally produced foods like rice, dried African locust bean seeds, African carp and sesame leaves, and of fortified food rations supplied by the World Food Programme. The rations include 150g of fortified corn-soy blend, 3g of iodised salt and 10g of palm oil per child per day.</p>
<p>There is also a second feeding category: girls in selected schools in Ghana’s three northern regions are <a href="https://www.wfp.org/stories/ghana-girls-reach-their-full-potential-take-home-rations">given</a> food to take home each time they attend school for 85% of the month. This food <a href="https://www.wfp.org/stories/ghana-girls-reach-their-full-potential-take-home-rations">includes</a> rice, maize, vegetable oil and iodised salt.</p>
<p>The ration programme for girls started in 1999 and has been gradually absorbed into the bigger school feeding programme. It has yielded remarkable results: girls’ enrolment in these selected schools has <a href="https://www.ghanabusinessnews.com/2016/03/04/world-food-programme-to-support-school-feeding-programme/">grown</a> from 9,000 to 42,000 between 1999 and 2016. Retention rates have doubled to 99%. This scheme is essential in tackling gender disparity in education, particularly in northern Ghana’s food-insecure and deprived communities where girls’ education is <a href="https://www.modernghana.com/news/399838/50-northern-region-girls-receive-wfpges-scholarships.html">not often prioritised</a> by families. </p>
<p>Sadly the ration programme for girls is being slowly <a href="http://documents.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/newsroom/wfp207421.pdf">phased out</a> – its managers believe their work is done given the huge spike in retention rates. Now the focus will be entirely on the bigger school feeding scheme, which has also been very successful. It has, according to my <a href="http://www.equityforchildren.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Abuja-PaperCompendium.pdf">own research</a>:</p>
<ul>
<li>increased school enrolment by 20%;</li>
<li>reduced truancy and absenteeism;</li>
<li>lowered school drop-out rates; and</li>
<li>improved individual academic performance and the participating schools’ overall performance too.</li>
</ul>
<p>These are all excellent, positive results. But there’s still work to be done. </p>
<h2>Plotting the next steps</h2>
<p>One of the biggest problems facing the programme is a lack of funding. It cannot be rolled out more widely because there just isn’t enough money.</p>
<p>Schools that aren’t currently part of the programme are struggling. A survey conducted in Ghana’s Sekyere Kumawu district found that non-beneficiary schools were actually losing pupils. The same study <a href="http://jcss.our.dmu.ac.uk/files/2013/03/JCSS-Ghana-School-Feeding-Winter-2015.pdf">revealed</a> that pupils were switching to the schools that offer the scheme in order to receive the benefits. </p>
<p>The government and stakeholders need to put mechanisms in place that will strengthen the existing programme, allow it to expand into other schools and make it sustainable. The government must wean the programme of its reliance on donor funds. It can learn here from the experiences of South Africa’s national school feeding programme, which is funded by the country’s National Treasury. This approach ensures that the government takes ownership of the programme and plans for its sustainability.</p>
<p>Policy will be important: the programme falls under Ghana’s National Social Protection Strategy, but should be bolstered with a strong legal and policy framework that clearly maps the way forward. This legislation should delineate the guidelines for implementation and institutional mechanisms to make sure the programme delivers what is necessary.</p>
<p>Finally, a robust monitoring and evaluation framework will be needed to ensure that the programme’s organisers learn from their failures and successes. This way adjustments can be made along the way so that Ghana’s children can keep getting the meals they need at school.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/60875/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Addaney does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Ghana’s school feeding programme has reached millions of children in the past 11 years. It does important work, but needs more support to grow and become sustainable.Michael Addaney, Assistant Researcher at the Quality Assurance and Planning Unit, University of Energy and Natural ResourcesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/562312016-03-17T13:41:38Z2016-03-17T13:41:38ZHow schooling can save African girls from becoming child brides<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/115272/original/image-20160316-30211-tv7m8k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A young girl from Kenya's Pokot tribe weeps as she's led away from her home by her future husband's family.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Siegfried Modola </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Millions of African girls are <a href="http://www.girlsnotbrides.org/region/sub-saharan-africa/">becoming wives</a> every year. In Niger, <a href="http://www.icrw.org/child-marriage-facts-and-figures">about 75%</a> of girls will become child brides before they turn 18. In Chad and the Central African Republic the figure is <a href="http://www.icrw.org/child-marriage-facts-and-figures">68%</a>.</p>
<p>Some countries, <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-needs-to-be-done-to-keep-child-marriages-trending-down-43419">like Ethiopia</a>, are recording some important victories in the fight to protect girls from becoming child brides. But the practice remains alarmingly common and is growing. In a 2013 report on the issue, the United Nations Children Emergency Fund <a href="http://www.unicef.org/media/files/Child_Marriage_Report_7_17_LR..pdf">warned</a> that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If there is no reduction in the practice of child marriage, up to 280 million girls alive today are at risk of becoming brides by the time they turn 18. Due to population growth, this number will approach 320 million by 2050. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The same report says that population growth rates will cancel out any of the gains currently being made in reducing child marriages.</p>
<p>How can child marriages be stopped? The answer, <a href="http://www.icrw.org/publications/more-power-her-how-empowering-girls-can-end-child-marriage">research suggests</a>, lies in improving girls’ access to basic education – and in changing school curricula so that both girls and boys realise women can contribute a great deal to their societies if they are not just married off and forgotten. </p>
<h2>Proven links between education and empowerment</h2>
<p>Countries in sub-Saharan Africa have some of the world’s <a href="http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.PRM.ENRR/countries/ZF-XN?display=map">lowest levels</a> of school enrolment and completion. The situation is <a href="http://www.uis.unesco.org/Education/Documents/fs-31-out-of-school-children-en.pdf">particularly dire</a> for girls – they account for 55% of the region’s children who aren’t at school, and 52% of its out-of-school adolescents. A <a href="https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/19036">study</a> by the World Bank that explored the links between child marriage and education found that child marriage and underage pregnancies collectively contribute to between 15% and 20% of school drop-outs in the region. </p>
<p>Other <a href="http://www.ungei.org/files/Child_Marriage_Trends3.pdf">research</a> has suggested that any girl who completes ten years of education is six times less likely to be pushed into marriage before she turns 18 than a less-educated peer. <a href="http://blogs.worldbank.org/education/eliminating-child-marriage-boost-girls-education">Early enrolment</a> has also proved to be key – the younger a girl is when she starts school, the greater her chances are of not becoming a child bride.</p>
<p>So what is it about education that can make such a difference to a girl’s prospects of becoming a child bride? Quite simply, education is a <a href="http://repository.up.ac.za/bitstream/handle/2263/51442/Azubike_Sexual_2015.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">dynamic tool</a> for change. It has the power to transform individuals’ lives and improve their social standing. It also empowers girls to understand and claim their rights – particularly in the areas of further education and their own reproductive health. At its best, education will equip girls to choose and create their own futures rather than those imposed by their families and communities.</p>
<p>Educating girls also has a hugely positive impact on their communities. It <a href="http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/ED/GMR/images/2011/girls-factsheet-en.pdf">can</a> lower maternal mortality, improve children’s health, lower birth rates and help women to find jobs – which in turn boosts economies.</p>
<h2>Limited access, patriarchal curricula</h2>
<p>There are two reasons that education in many parts of Africa is not changing girls’ lives. The first relates to access; the second to curriculum content.</p>
<p>Many girls don’t receive the family support they need to start, stick with or complete their education. This is partly because girls are simply <a href="http://www.equalitynow.org/sites/default/files/MaputoProtocol_JourneytoEquality.pdf">not valued</a> in the same way as boys. Traditional gender norms in many African societies mean that parents view their daughters as little more than a drain on limited family resources. They do not invest money in a daughter’s education and skills acquisition, preferring to marry her off at an early age. These marriages produce dowries and reduce the perceived “burden” on a girl’s family.</p>
<p>Even if a girl does go to school and is supported by her family, she may find the curriculum itself problematic. Far too many classroom examples, storybooks and texts describe a society in which boys and men are bright, curious, brave, inventive and powerful – while girls and women are silent, passive and invisible. Girls are presented as being little more than “marriage material” and their education focuses on turning them into good wives. This inevitably reinforces the perception that a “good marriage” is the most important way to promote and secure a girl’s well-being in society. </p>
<h2>Avenues for change</h2>
<p>There has been some good news about child marriage rates from Ethiopia, Niger and Mozambique. A civil society organisation in Ethiopia successfully increased girls’ school attendance rates and delayed marriages by giving a <a href="http://www.popcouncil.org/research/building-an-evidence-base-to-delay-marriage-in-sub-saharan-africa">sheep or cow</a> to parents who promised not to marry off their daughters. Ethiopia has done well by reaching out to community leaders to explain the value of educating and empowering girls.</p>
<p>There are some other avenues that could be explored. For instance, the people (most of them women) who run girls’ education campaigns should be supported with leadership and technical training. Families should be taught about the option of <a href="https://theconversation.com/global-standards-miss-the-nuance-in-local-child-labour-41367">flexible schooling</a>, which allows girls to work and earn money while not dropping out of the school system entirely.</p>
<p>Such campaigns also shouldn’t ignore girls who are already married. They could teach girls, their husbands and their husbands’ families about alternative, non-formal education models – such as the flexible schooling structures I’ve described above. </p>
<p>In addition, African governments need to adopt and enforce both legal and social protection mechanisms that focus on girls’ education. Some legislation already exists, but it’s time for it to be applied. For instance, governments must engage with article 10(3) of the African Union Charter’s protocol on <a href="http://www.achpr.org/files/instruments/women-protocol/achpr_instr_proto_women_eng.pdf">women’s rights</a> to ensure that they make enough money available specifically for educating girls.</p>
<p>Governments, activists and civil society organisations also need to start addressing broader societal issues of sexism, patriarchy and the oppression of women.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/56231/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Addaney does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Education can be a powerful tool to stop the practice of child marriage. It empowers girls, and their success can ultimately boost their communities.Michael Addaney, Assistant researcher at the Quality Assurance and Planning Unit, University of Energy and Natural ResourcesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.