Child, Early, and Forced Marriage Resource Guide

This resource guide provides information on how the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) sectors, missions, and staff can integrate child, early, and forced marriage (CEFM) prevention and response into their programming. The guide provides both the rationale of why and approaches to how USAID’s efforts can address CEFM.

In March 2012, USAID released its Gender Equality and Female Empowerment Policy with the goal to “improve the lives of citizens around the world by advancing equality between females and males, and empowering women and girls to fully participate in and benefit from the development of their societies.”30 The policy directs USAID investments toward the following outcomes, which can be adapted and translated at the country level:

• reduce gender disparities in access to, control over, and benefits from resources, wealth, opportunities, economic services, social services, political services, and cultural services
• reduce gender-based violence (GBV) and mitigate its effects on individuals and communities
• increase the capability of women and girls to recognize their rights; determine their life outcomes; and influence decision-making in households, communities, and societies