Early Marriage

Community participation is necessary for eradicating the harmful traditional practices that affect the quality of life. However, parents in Itang Special Woreda are not participating in the implementation of the policy that prohibits early marriage. Therefore, present study assessed the factors affecting their participation in implementing the early marriage policy. In this study, both quantitative and qualitative data was collected from the parents who married off their daughters before the minimum age (18 years) of marriage. The result shows that though family code law is being implemented, there is still widespread early marriages in the study area. Specifically, poverty, desire for dowry, preserving culture, religious perceptions, preserving the chastity and fear of unwanted pregnancy before marriage are the major factors affecting community's participation in implementing early marriage policy in the study area. Based on the findings it is recommended to support poor families, creating awareness, nullifying marriage payment, mobilizing the community and enforcing law.