20 Years of the Evidence Base on What Works to Prevent Child Marriage: A Systematic Review

This review, authored by Anju Malhotra, Ph.D., and Shatha Elnakib, M.P.H., examines evaluations from 2000 to 2019 to identify effective approaches for preventing child marriage in low- and middle-income countries. It found that interventions supporting girls' education through cash or in-kind transfers were the most successful, with 8 out of 10 medium-high quality studies showing positive outcomes. Additionally, favorable job markets and targeted life skills and livelihoods training consistently produced positive results. However, asset or cash transfers conditional on delaying marriage showed limited success, and unconditional cash transfers for poverty alleviation had no impact. Multicomponent interventions were less successful, with only one of eight studies showing positive results, and they were less scalable and sustainable compared to single-component programs. The findings suggest that enhancing girls' human capital and opportunities is the most effective way to delay marriage, while the low success of multicomponent programs warrants reconsideration of this approach.