Plan to end child marriage

Dar es Salaam. A five-year plan has been adopted by Plan International organization to prevent over 12,000 young girls in four regions in Tanzania from child marriage.

The regions include Mara, Rukwa, Geita and Morogoro which will benefit through educational and economic empowerment of girls and women. According to Plan International country coordinator, Mr Jorgen Haldorsen.

He told a news conference that the plan, which is under a global strategy to eliminate gender discrimination, aims at reaching out to over 100 million women and girls who are vulnerable to gender violence worldwide.

“The move in the regions will target the elimination of child marriage and gender based violence by helping women learn about gender issues, participate in socio-economic and political decision, have control over their lives and bodies and finally protect themselves from discrimination, violence and fear,” he explained.

The 2016 Tanzania Demographic Health Survey showed that 33 per cent of Tanzanian girls experience sexual violence before the age of 18 while two out of five girls are married before attaining 18 years.