“Marriage is a choice”: Working with people with disabilities to address gender-based violence in Madagascar

GRAND SUD REGION, Madagascar - "I live with my six children, one of whom has a disability," said 40-year-old Zeteny, from the Anôsy region in Madagascar's Grand Sud region. "I look after my disabled son full-time, and my 14-year-old daughter had to leave school to work and support us."

Years of successive droughts have wrought havoc on already fragile livelihoods for millions of people in the Grand Sud, leaving many with few options when trying to cope with rising household expenses.

"I was tempted to get [my daughter] married so we'd have more resources," Zeteny told UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency.

Child marriage is one of the most common types of gender-based violence in Madagascar, with 40 per cent of girls married before they are 18. Limiting their futures even further, more than half of girls in the Anôsy region have never attended school, and just 1 per cent have graduated from secondary school.

But for Zeteny, an information session held by UNFPA and its partner organization the Association of Women with Disabilities in Madagascar was key in changing her mind. The sessions raise awareness about gender-based violence and countering the harmful norms that perpetuate it.

"With the messages I've just received, I'm convinced I'll enroll her in school again," she told UNFPA.

Awareness for all

Tackling harmful practices takes buy-in from the entire community, so the information sessions are held at schools and in villages, and often involve local leaders. This means everyone can participate - even girls who have had to abandon their studies to bear children.

Nicolette attended a session on child marriage at her school, prompting her to reconsider recent events in her friends' lives.

"I realized that some of them left school and then I found them with babies," the 16-year-old explained to Razafinjato Fela, who heads the association. "I didn't know that we could be 'victims of child marriage,' as you say. For me, marriage is a happy event, and I was happy for them. But now I realize that was not necessarily the case."

Nicolette attended a UNFPA information session on child marriage, which she said prompted her to reconsider events in her friends' lives. © UNFPA Madagascar

"I'm lucky to have parents who encourage me to continue my studies. What I want now is for all the girls in our school to be able to study, to pursue their dreams and not be forced to get married and drop out of school."

And Nicolette is intent on becoming an advocate for girls to make their own choices about their own futures. "I'm going to discuss this with my other friends, so that they too can pass on the message - because now we know that our friends, our neighbours, our cousins can fall victim to it, whereas everyone has the right to realize their ambitions, and marriage is a choice!"

To make sure the initiative is as inclusive as possible, persons with a disability are encouraged to join the association and deliver information sessions. In fact, young people with disabilities face elevated risks of gender-based violence and sexual violence, and are as likely as their peers to be married off as children.

Zeteny was inspired as much by the people delivering the awareness-raising activities as by the sessions themselves: "I see how those with disabilities manage to do things that I would never have imagined."

Tackling damaging practices takes buy-in from the entire community, so UNFPA information sessions are held at schools and in villages. © UNFPA Madagascar

Nicolette said she'd also be taking a more open-minded approach to everyone in her community. "From now on, I'll avoid discriminating against persons with disabilities, because they have rights too, just like me."

Raising voices to raise awareness

Through education, the association is determined to challenge outdated perceptions and stereotypes. Nancy, a 14-year-old student who participated in the awareness-raising session, called on others to join the movement.

"I invite everyone to stop gender-based violence, because it destroys people," she said. "It has a psychological and physical impact, especially on children and young people. It causes trauma and they may not be able to continue their studies.

"We all have to fight against violence, especially us women - even if we're called fragile objects, because we're not!"

In 2019, the government passed a law to strengthen prosecutions of gender-based violence, a critical move in a country where one third of women that same year reported to have been subjected to physical or sexual violence at some point in their lifetime.

The UNFPA awareness-raising campaign is part of its 'Women at the Centre' project, which is funded by the Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd. and implemented by UNFPA. The project was launched in Madagascar in 2023 in the regions of Androy, Anôsy, Itasy and Menabe. In 2024, UNFPA reached more than 230,000 people with information and awareness sessions, referrals to health centres, training for income-generating activities, and psychosocial and legal support.

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