The MAMPU Program and Development Partners Support BAPPENAS’s Launching of the National Child Marriage Prevention Strategy

After an intensive drafting process, the National Child Marriage Prevention Strategy and Child Marriage Prevention Report: Acceleration that Cannot be Delayed was finally launched on 4 February 2020 at the Pullman Hotel in Jakarta. The National Development Planning Minister Suharso said the documents were evidence of strong collaboration between government and non-government parties, especially between the National Development Planning Ministry, the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection, development partners, civil society organisations, academics, religious leaders and youth groups.

The documents contain five strategies to lower the prevalence of child marriage in Indonesia, namely:

1. Enhancing the capacity of children to ensure they become resilient actors for change.
2. Pushing for the creation of an environment that supports the realisation of values and norms that prevent child marriage.
3. Increasing access to comprehensive basic services that guarantee the fulfilment of children’s rights to protection and welfare.
4. Strengthening regulations and institutions to ensure the implementation of child marriage prevention efforts and increasing the capacity of these institutions’ management.
5. Strengthening coordination between stakeholders to increase synergy and cooperation on efforts to prevent child marriage.
   

In his opening address, Suharso said, “This meeting today is a moment of strategic importance for the central and regional governments, development partners, academics, CSOs, and the media, to coordinate and synergise our efforts to develop awareness, concern, and support for efforts to prevent child marriage.”

Based on the Child Marriage Prevention Report, the reduction in cases of child marriage over the last 10 years has reached 3.5% across Indonesia. This slow rate of reduction means that Indonesia is one of 10 countries with the highest rates of child marriage with a prevalence of 11.21% in 2018.

Efforts to prevent child marriage are a realisation of collective action supported by the MAMPU Program. MAMPU Partners have been involved in various advocacy forums to push for the creation of pro-women policy that promotes gender equality, such as this National Child Marriage Prevention Strategy.