CONTRIBUTORS
Alvin Joseph Kimani
Policy and Advocacy Officer
Amani Karisa
Associate Research Scientist
In the dusty compound of a secondary school in West Nile, a teacher hesitates when asked why one of her brightest pupils disappeared from class just a month ago. “She was married off,” she says quietly. “Pregnant. The family said it was the best they could do.” This is not an isolated case. It’s a national emergency repeating itself across Karamoja, Busoga, and other parts of Uganda—loud in its frequency but silent in the public consciousness. Behind every case is a girl with a name, a dream, and a future dimmed by forces beyond her control.
According to UNICEF (2023), 34% of Ugandan girls are married before age 18, and 25% of girls aged 15–19 are already mothers. These staggering figures place Uganda among the top 20 countries globally with the highest prevalence of child marriage, despite years of policy development and programming.
A Promising Strategy, Stalled in Implementation
The National Strategy to End Child Marriage and Teenage Pregnancy (2022/23–2026/27) is Uganda’s most comprehensive attempt to confront this crisis. It aligns with national goals (Vision 2040, NDP III) and global commitments (SDG 5.3, AU Agenda 2063, the Maputo Protocol). The strategy rests on five pillars: legal reform, education, health services, community engagement, and economic empowerment. There have been pockets of progress. Some districts report slight decreases in teen pregnancy rates. NGOs such as Plan International, World Vision, and UNFPA have championed awareness campaigns and engaged with religious and cultural leaders to promote their initiatives. Adolescent-friendly health services are expanding. Education policies, such as Universal Primary Education (UPE) and USE, are helping some girls stay in school.
But the gains are fragmented and fragile.
What’s Holding Uganda Back?
Policies That Don’t Speak to Each Other
Uganda has one of the most robust legal frameworks in East Africa, including the Children’s Act (Amendment) 2016, which criminalizes child marriage. Yet the law is rarely enforced. Families settle cases out of court. Do police lack training on children’s rights? Local councils are unsure how to respond—or unwilling to act.
Education policies allow girls to return to school after pregnancy, but stigma and lack of school-based support drive most away. Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE), critical to prevention, remains inconsistently applied. These disconnects are not accidental. They reflect deeper systemic breakdowns. Ministries operate in silos. Policies are created without mechanisms for cross-sector implementation. Health data on adolescent pregnancy rarely informs education sector planning. Justice systems often fail to act on health sector referrals. And no one is consistently tracking what’s working, where, and why.
Cultural Norms and Economic Realities
In places like Karamoja and Busoga, early marriage is not only accepted but also expected. Traditions like bride price provide financial incentives to marry off girls young. Families facing poverty often see no better option. While community sensitization has begun, it usually remains surface-level. Shifting generational beliefs requires sustained engagement, dialogue, and trust, rather than one-off awareness campaigns.
Invisibility of Boys and Men
Most programs target girls, leaving boys and men untouched. Yet these are the individuals who often perpetuate or benefit from early marriage. Without involving them in the conversation—and the solution—the cycle continues.
Data Gaps and Monitoring Failures
Effective change depends on having accurate and timely information. But Uganda lacks disaggregated, real-time data on child marriage and teen pregnancy. There are few longitudinal studies to track the impact. Without clear insights, policies remain reactive rather than responsive.
Why Programs Falter — And What Must Change
COVID-19 revealed the fragility of existing gains. Lockdowns shuttered schools, spiked teen pregnancies, and left girls more vulnerable than ever. In some districts, pregnancy among 10–14-year-old girls rose by over 300% during the pandemic. These shocks exposed the lack of resilience in Uganda’s systems. Programs were heavily donor-dependent. Coordination between actors was weak. The voices of girls were notably absent in the design of responses.
It’s time to rethink how Uganda tackles this crisis.
Reimagining the Response: A Systems-Oriented, Evidence-Informed Approach
At APHRC, we believe that solving complex challenges like child marriage requires working across sectors, across timelines, and communities. Evidence alone is not enough—it must be embedded in systems thinking, participatory design, and adaptive implementation.
We propose a smarter approach—one that listens to the ecosystem, not just isolated symptoms. That includes:
- Training frontline actors—teachers, health workers, police—to implement and enforce child protection laws and support reintegration.
- Collaborating with religious and cultural leaders to shift harmful norms from within communities.
- Building economic resilience through social protection measures, such as cash transfers, that reduce pressure to marry off daughters.
- Bringing boys and men into the conversation to transform social norms, not just sidestep them.
- Embedding CSE in all school curricula, adapted to cultural and regional contexts.
- Generating real-time, disaggregated data to track what works, where, and why.
But most importantly, we must put girls at the center, not just as beneficiaries, but as co-designers of solutions.
What APHRC Can Offer
Through our Gender and Education focus area, we are already applying these principles in Uganda and beyond. APHRC is uniquely positioned to:
- Conduct longitudinal and disaggregated research to track trends, impact, and emerging issues (e.g., digital harm, post-pandemic shifts).
- Evaluate policy alignment and enforcement across ministries.
- Develop training materials for the health, education, and law enforcement sectors.
- Partner with local communities for participatory research that informs locally rooted solutions.
- Enhance the capacity of government and civil society to implement, monitor, and adapt their programs effectively.
- Utilize research translation tools—such as briefs, dialogues, and media—to make evidence actionable.
A Collective Call to Action
Ending child marriage and teenage pregnancy is not just a development priority—it’s a moral imperative. The future of millions of girls and Uganda’s progress depends on it.
We urge the Government of Uganda to:
- Allocate at least 5% of the gender budget to child marriage and teen pregnancy interventions.
- Institutionalize Comprehensive Sexuality Education across all schools.
- Establish special courts and trained units to handle cases of child marriage swiftly.
- Expand cash transfer programs to support vulnerable households.
We call on donors and NGOs to:
- Coordinate efforts to reduce duplication and maximize impact.
- Invest in research and monitoring, not just service delivery.
- Support local actors who understand community dynamics best.
And to our fellow researchers and practitioners: Let’s ensure that data leads to action, that policies reflect lived realities, and that every Ugandan girl has the power to choose her future.
Because being “ a girl” should never mean being left behind.