Cythina Chichewo,
Zimbabwe like many other countries in the sub-Saharan region such as Zambia and Malawi is experiencing a devastating drought, with an estimated 56.8 million people struggling to access food. According to United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) report this is the worst drought the region has experienced in the last 100 years.
Within the perils of the effects of hunger, families particularly in rural communities who normally rely on subsistence crop and livestock farming, young girls as small as 12 years have fallen prey to child marriages being bartered for food by their families.
In the rural parts of Buhera South, the impact of the El Nino induced droughts have severely impacted households who normally rely on farming.
A local farmer in Buhera South, Tendai Moyo says the drought as been devastating, people are struggling to find enough food to feed their children and are now hoping for support from local and international non-governmental organizations for support.
“We are experiencing a dire situation after a failed harvest during the last farming season. The drought has been devastating and we are struggling to feed are children. We usually rely on farming to get money to send our children to school. As a result of this drought, we are being forced to take them out of school and this will have huge consequences for our girl child who might end up opting to get married in search of better living conditions, away from this hunger,” Moyo said.
According to Action Aid, an international non-governmental organization that works against poverty and injustice worldwide, girls are being married off to get families food in drought stricken Southern Africa.
A research 2023 research by Unicef states, the practice of child marriage although it is declining continues to be a global problem, with one in five young women aged 20 to 24 years married as children in the last 10 years.
“Child marriage remains an urgent human rights issue in the Southern Africa region. While the current rate of progress towards ending child marriage in the region continue to be slow,” reads the Unicef report.
The Action Aid Policy Brief, titled, ‘Mitigating Protection Risks for Young Women in Southern Africa: Policy Responses to Drought Induced Crisis,’ highlights the urgent need for targeted interventions to protect and empower young women in the region so that they are protected from being married while children.
According to the Action Aid policy brief, drought has disproportionately affected young women and girls exacerbating existing inequalities such as food insecurity, economic hardship and social instability. Young girls are facing heightened risks of violence, exploitation and marginalization.
