Research Reports

Malawi’s secondary education system suffers from perennially low gross enrollment rates. Child marriage plays a key role in this dynamic, with 43% of female dropouts being attributed to either marriage or pregnancy. Based on substantial sector expert consultation, and a review of existing policies and literature, this paper examined the social and economic return-on-investment of six interventions: 

1. Increasing the number of secondary schools for girls 
2. Education promotion 
3. Community dialogues to prevent child marriage 
4. Cash or asset transfers for girls, conditional on school enrolment 
5. Child marriage survivor program to rehabilitate annulled child marriages including scholarships to return to school 
6. Sexual and reproductive health and female empowerment programs