The right to choose: Ending child marriage in Ethiopia

When I picture a 13-year-old girl growing up in Canada, I imagine someone focused on school, friendships, extracurricular activities, and finding her place among her peers. She may worry about homework, argue about household chores, or wonder what she'll do on the weekend.

For many girls around the world, however, childhood can look very different. For Hawi*, a 13-year-old Grade 3 student in rural Oromia, Ethiopia, her concerns about school and friendships were suddenly overshadowed by something far more life-changing. A man had placed a stick outside her family’s home, a sign under the custom of Cabsa that he intended to marry her. As the world marks the first International Day for the Elimination of Child, Early and Forced Marriage on November 27, this is the story of how one community in Ethiopia is helping girls keep the right to choose.

What is Cabsa? Early marriage customs in rural Ethiopia

For Hawi, the stick outside her home meant that decisions about her future were being made without her say, and she was devastated. Cabsa and similar practices persist in some communities and are rooted in longstanding social and cultural norms around marriage. Another practice, known as Butii, involves the abduction of a girl for marriage. These practices do not reflect the experiences of all girls or communities in Ethiopia. But where they do occur, they can limit girls’ choices about their education, health and future, while increasing their risk of violence, early pregnancy and childbirth-related complications.

Child marriage in Ethiopia: Progress is real, but uneven

Hawi's experience is not unique, but neither is it the whole story. Ethiopia has made significant progress in reducing child marriage over the past three decades, even as important challenges remain. According to UNICEF's child marriage data portal and the 2016 Demographic and Health Survey, 69% of Ethiopian girls were married before 18 in 1991. By 2025, that number had fallen to 32%.

Yet not all girls have experienced this progress equally. Child marriage remains more common in rural communities facing poverty, limited educational opportunities, and climate-related pressures.

Why child marriage continues in rural Ethiopia

Ethiopia's laws are clear: marriage before 18 is prohibited, and both parties must freely consent. Yet laws alone cannot change deeply rooted social norms.

A marriage quietly arranged between families, often through a broker, rarely reaches a courtroom or a police station. The law only protects a girl when the people around her believe in it. That is why awareness, advocacy, and community dialogue remain so important, particularly in rural areas.

The barriers are steep because beliefs run deep. In one community in West Hararghe, Oromia region, local officials described early marriage as a symbol of status and respectability. Families often viewed it as a way to strengthen family ties, ease economic pressures, or protect a daughter's perceived reputation. This is where the Global Affairs Canada-funded RESILIENT-WE project comes in.

How RESILIENT-WE is helping end child marriage in Ethiopia

The RESILIENT-WE project is implemented by World Vision Canada and World Vision Ethiopia, with partners. It works across the East and West Hararghe zones of Ethiopia, bringing together women and men, girls and boys, and women's rights organizations to challenge discriminatory gender norms that foster inequality.

Since 2022, project monitoring data shows that more than 35,000 community members have participated in conversations and awareness activities aimed at preventing gender-based violence (GBV). These efforts, combined with community action and support systems, have helped prevent an estimated 187 girls from entering early and forced marriages.

Community conversations help shift norms

Addressing child marriage often begins with trusted voices within the community. Through the project, faith leaders are engaged as influential agents of change, working alongside community elders and members of Community Change and MenCare groups to challenge harmful norms and promote positive alternatives.

Women and men gather regularly, often under the shade of a familiar tree, to reflect on the realities of early marriage and its consequences for girls' health, education, and future opportunities. Group members also make respectful visits to families, sharing stories of girls from neighbouring communities who remained in school and went on to become nurses, teachers, and health workers.

Sustainable change takes root when communities identify problems and shape solutions themselves, and the project began by creating space for conversations that had long remained unspoken.

Protecting girls when risk is immediate: GBV case management

Conversations alone, however, are not enough. Girls also need protection when risks become immediate. To complement community dialogue, the project engaged GBV case managers. They work with girls, parents, local leaders and neighbourhood authorities to raise awareness of rights and legal protections and ensure those at risk know where to seek support.

The brother who took his sister's case to court

Remember Hawi? Her older brother had attended a RESILIENT-WE community change training, where he learned that early marriage is harmful and illegal. When he heard her crying, he took her case to the local customary court, which cancelled the marriage. In her district alone, the project reports that 27 arranged marriages were cancelled, and the girls returned to school.

Change takes time, but it is possible.

Tackling the root causes: Livelihoods, empowerment and household decision-making

The strength of this integrated approach is that it addresses both the immediate risks and the underlying drivers of child marriage. Community conversations help challenge harmful norms, while protection mechanisms support girls when risks become immediate. At the same time, income-generating initiatives supported by the project help strengthen household livelihoods and reduce the financial pressures that can make child marriage seem like a solution. Families under economic strain may view a daughter's marriage as a way to cope with hardship. But when women know their rights, earn an income and participate in household decisions, and when fathers, elders and brothers become advocates for positive change, new pathways to a more equitable future emerge. Hawi's story shows what is possible when awareness, economic opportunities, community support and local protection systems work together.

In their own words: Girls in Hararghe, Ethiopia speak out

The impact is perhaps best captured by the girls themselves. When faced with the risk of early marriage, three girls demonstrated remarkable courage and determination to seek support. Through awareness sessions, community groups and GBV case management services, they were connected to protection and support.

"I want to study and become a lawyer. I don't want to get married until I am old enough." — Hawi*, 13, Hararghe

"I will marry when I want to, after I reach the legal age and complete my education." — Sifan*, 16, Hararghe

"Now I attend school freely, without fear, and I am a role model for many girls in my school." — Lalise*, Hararghe

Lalise's marriage was cancelled, and today she speaks at school campaigns, and her testimony has inspired classmates to value education and resist pressure to marry early.

Why the first international day to end child marriage matters

Globally, about 12 million girls are married before the age of 18 every year, and some 650 million women and girls alive today were married as children. That is roughly 23 girls every minute. The persistence of child marriage, despite decades of progress, is why global attention still matters.

This year, for the first time, the world marks November 27 as the International Day for the Elimination of Child, Early and Forced Marriage. The UN General Assembly created the day on September 4, 2026.

The lesson from both global advocacy and local experience is the same: a day on the calendar cannot end child marriage by itself. As Sierra Leone's First Lady, Dr. Fatima Maada Bio, who championed the new international day, reminded the UN General Assembly, ending child marriage requires sustained political will, strong laws and education. In Hararghe, that commitment is growing through education and partnership within families and communities.

Hawi, Sifan and Lalise already have dreams for their futures. Supporting girls to make decisions about their own lives and futures is work that continues far beyond a single day of recognition. It requires an enduring commitment to their right to choose and to pursue the future they envision for themselves.

Join the 16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence

The International Day for the Elimination of Child, Early and Forced Marriage falls within the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, which runs from November 25 to December 10. Follow along with our 16 Days of Activism stories to read how communities are protecting girls and women, and read more articles on child marriage and girls’ rights:

• Fathers in Tanzania confront violence, starting at home

*Names changed for child safeguarding purposes