Back Consultancy: Food insecurity and child marriage: unpacking the interrelationship

Context and justification

Child marriage, defined as the formal or informal union of two people, at least one of whom is under the age of 18, is a violation of human rights that has huge adverse effects on education, health--including sexual and reproductive health--, nutrition, and on the overall development of adolescents and young people.1 Child marriage is rooted in gender inequality and patriarchal systems and is a reflection of both unequal gender power dynamics as well as social norms that underpin harmful practices and the perceived value of girls in a given context. As a human rights violation, it not only threatens girls' lives and health, but also limits the achievement of their full potential. It confines girls’ and women’s social status to reproductive roles, including unpaid care work, and limits their ability to access education and economic activities as well as to make decisions, including on issues related to their own lives and bodies.

Child marriage is a serious concern in West and Central Africa (WCA), where almost 10% of the world's women and girls who were married before their 18th birthday reside. The region hosts some of the highest rates of child marriage globally: 76% in Niger, 68% in CAR and 67% in Chad.2 Despite the ongoing advocacy and programmes to address the issue in the region, child marriage trends have not seen much improvement in the last few decades, with 37% of women between the ages 20 to 24 still reporting having gotten married before 18 years of age in 2022 compared to 40% 25 years ago.

Research in different contexts demonstrate intersecting factors to child marriage, including social norms, poverty, food insecurity, and conflicts. Crises and food insecurity exacerbate and drive people to adopt negative coping mechanisms, including marrying girls to protect them from abuse, as a way to reduce the economic burden or to receive bride price that will cover immediate needs.4 Not only is early marriage therefore a consequence of food insecurity and malnutrition, but a cause as well: women and girls who marry young experience higher rates of anaemia and malnutrition than those who marry later in life, with their children suffering from consequences such as low birth weight, poor nutritional status and stunting.

The interconnections between food insecurity and child marriage are of special concern for WCA, as the region is experiencing heightening levels of food insecurity due to new and protracted crises, environmental degradation, and climate change. According to a joint press statement from UNICEF, WFP and FAO, in 2023, the ‘number of hungry people in West and Central Africa is projected to reach an all-time high of 48 million people if urgent and long-lasting solutions to address this crisis are not delivered soon’ with ‘over 35 million people (including 6.7 million children) currently unable to meet their basic food and nutrition needs. This region is also prone to conflicts, climate change and other disasters that are a fertile ground for gender inequalities, in particular child marriage. Indeed, higher prevalence of food insecurity combined with the 3Cs (Conflict and Climate Change) implies higher risks of child marriage and creates a vicious circle that also increases the economic divide, exacerbating inequalities and perpetuating the linkages between poverty, food insecurity and child marriage.

Cognizant of these interlinkages, both UNFPA and WFP have programmes that address both issues of child marriage and GBV in general and food security. The Breaking the Barriers to Girls Education in Chad and Niger is evidence of joint efforts tackling child marriage, GBV and multiple challenges facing girls’ education. However, there is no gender transformative approach programming that is based on the drivers of child marriage as a key cause and consequence of food security nor an assessment of specific impact of those programmes in reducing child marriage.

Given such interlinkages between child marriage and food insecurity in emergencies and protracted crises with growing food insecurity, UNFPA and WFP West and Central Africa Regional Offices propose to conduct a desk review and synopsis research on the topic to develop a technical briefing note that will inform policies and programmes on food security and child marriage and SRH more broadly. This technical brief will support the design of appropriate response to child marriage in the region as well as the development of measures to track progress.

The consultant/s (dependent on ability to identify one with prerequisite knowledge skills) will be engaged by UNFPA on behalf of the two organisations to conduct the study and to develop the brief.

Duration of work

30 working days between November 5 to December 10 2023

Place where services are to be delivered:

The consultant/s will work remotely.

Delivery dates and how work will be delivered (e.g. electronic, hard copy etc.):

Expected final deliverable: A technical briefing note on the interrelationship between food insecurity and child marriage.

Monitoring and progress control, including reporting requirements, periodicity format and deadline:

Ongoing with working sessions, presentation on drafts and reviews based on inputs.
The consultant will also be expected to provide by weekly reports on progress as follows: Deliverable 1: Outline of roadmap to deliverable with timelines – within a week of engagement Deliverable 2: Presentation of outline of technical brief within a week of engagement Deliverable 3: Presentation of findings from literature review and draft of technical brief – 2 weeks of engagement Deliverable 4: Updated draft technical brief for presentation to UNFPA/WFP senior management – week 3 Deliverable 5: Final technical brief and report of consultancy – week 4.

Supervisory arrangements:

The Consultant will report to the UNFPA Gender and Human Rights Advisors of UNFPA - Cecile Mazzacurati and WFP Regional Gender Adviser Yaye Ramatoulaye Dieye.

Required expertise, qualifications and competencies, including language requirements:

Inputs / services to be provided by UNFPA or implementing partner (e.g support services, office space, equipment), if applicable:

Other relevant information or special conditions, if any:

Interested candidates should send (i) their resume, (ii) a 1-page cover letter that summarises their key skills and motivation for this assignment to zabubakar@unfpa.org by 14 November 2023. See all current vacancies