Awareness campaign needed to control child marriage

By Our Correspondent,Myagdi, Jan. 10 : Child marriage, a social ill, still prevails in the rural areas of Myagdi district. Concerned authorities need to pay proper attention to stop the evil practices of child marriage. There is a need of an intervention from governmental and non-governmental organisations to control it.

Child marriage has become a challenging task in the rural areas of Myagdi due to lack of awareness, education and poor economic condition of the people, social activist Mukti Dhungana said. "It is still a major social issue even though there are plenty of laws to control this social evil."

Local governments should take ownership and should conduct awareness campaign and take other measures to control the practices of child marriage, said Dipak Paudel, executive director of Sangam Myagdiis. Sangam Myagdi is a non- profitable non-governmental organisation working on the issues in the district based on Dhaulagiri Rural Municipality.

Law alone is not enough to resolve the problems. The organisation has formed teenage girl groups, women networking and meetings, target group discussion, street plays etc, through which they educate people about the possible danger of child marriages, early-age pregnancy, women rights, safe abortions and many more. Girls First Fund (GFF) is a supporting organisation for child marriage reduction. GFF funded programme is covering Lulang, Mudi, Muna and Takam of the district.