Breaking the Cycle: How Social Behavioral Change is Fighting Forced Marriage in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
By: Luther Kumbusho, Program Manager; and Providence Kokontyo, Gender and Protection Technical Advisor
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When social norms say yes, how can we say no?
In the Kasai Oriental (which is the smallest, most densely populated province of the Democratic Republic of Congo — DRC) young girls are often pressured into forced marriages. Weak infrastructure, widespread poverty, longstanding patriarchal systems, and recent unrest have created an increasingly challenging environment for young girls.
To address the issue of forced marriages within this challenging dynamic, the Budikadidi (“self-sufficiency” in Tshiluba) Activity used social behavior change (SBC) approaches and a holistic intervention package to both challenge patriarchal norms and provide alternative paths for young women.
What is Budikadidi?
In the Kasai Oriental, numerous factors increase the risk of forced marriage, including:
- Economic instability: Agriculture and mining are the main economic activities and poverty is particularly widespread in rural areas, where agricultural production is insufficient, artisanal mining is unprofitable, and unemployment is high.
- Patriarchal systems: Deeply-rooted beliefs favor male dominance, resulting in significant discrimination, with boys valued over girls.
- Civil Unrest: Recent activities by armed militias have provoked unrest and internal displacement in the region, intensifying pressure on the weak government services and systems.
In rural areas of the DRC, 43% of married women are forced into marriage before the age of 18, and 6.1% before the age of 15. Given that forced marriages are upheld through multiple, intersectional dynamics, addressing this issue requires a multifaceted intervention package.
This is why the USAID-funded Budikadidi Activity, implemented by Catholic Relief Services from 2016 to 2023, used an SBC approach to address the issue from multiple angles. This included four key pillars to ensure that young people are supported in the fight against forced marriage:
- Behavior change;
- Economic strengthening;
- Youth empowerment; and
- Participation in governance and community development.
Changing Behavior Starts with Changing Minds
The Budikadidi team worked to challenge people’s mindsets through a platform people regularly access- the radio. In partnership with local radio stations, Budikadidi produced several series and pre-recorded programs on men’s communal commitment, parent-child dialogue, the value of girls, positive masculinity in boys, and saying “no” to peer pressure.
The local youth club radio stations diffused these programs, encouraging their members to share and discuss their experiences with these issues. To ensure these messages were widely spread, they also organized educational evenings in the form of large village meetings where they showed videos about forced marriages, reaching around 600,000 young people in the Kasai Oriental. From there, some groups even collective community impressions to produce short videos and publish them online on YouTube to raise awareness of appropriate behavior to prevent early pregnancy and forced marriage.
A Different Path: Promoting Economic Opportunities
Economic instability is one of the main drivers of young girls being rushed into forced marriages. Through promoting economic activities for young women, Budikadidi enabled them to meet their financial needs and decreased pressure into marriage.
To this end, the Budikadidi team trained 271 local youth clubs in business management and marketing skills. The clubs pursued various economic opportunities, such as brick production, telephone charging and credit sales, and soy milk production. These clubs generated significant sales, opening new doors for the young people involved. For example, in the final six months of the Budakadidi Activity (December 2022 through May 2023), four highly motivated clubs achieved combined sales of $4,478.
Over 60% of these clubs successfully diversified their means of income through establishing multiple income-generating activities. Some groups established pharmacies or Savings and Internal Lending Communities (SILC) microfinance groups. Through these group earnings and profit-sharing, the girls have viable opportunities for personal development outside of marriage.
Mentoring Youth to Mentor Youth
Budikadidi also mentored young people in life and social skills. The program team trained young leaders to mentor other youth as part of the fight against forced marriage and early pregnancy. They discussed topics such as saying no to peer pressure, healthy relationships, positive masculinity, the value of the girl child, and parent-child dialogue. Throughout the program, more than 12,700 young girls and boys were trained in these important life skills, with the help of over three thousand mentors!
Getting Involved in Associations and Governance
Budikadidi supported groups of motivated youth to organize into youth clubs throughout the Kasai Oriental. These clubs offer young people the opportunity to get involved in community advocacy and leadership. Young people involved in these groups have been less likely to seek work in other locations and instead invested their skills in local development.
But it doesn’t end there! There has also been a strong mobilization of young girls and boys in the local village government (the Cellule d’Animation Communautaire, CAC). Through this approach, young people were connected to the local governance of their village, which helped to prepare them for future roles as leaders. This professional involvement in local governance and community life offers young girls an alternative to forced marriage.
Religious and Traditional Leaders Are Essential Partners
Given the significant role religion and tradition can play in upholding a legacy of forced marriages, partnering with religious and traditional leaders was essential to Budikadidi’s mission. The program team engaged over 400 religious and traditional leaders, as well as community influencers, to change perceptions around dowry, encourage positive masculinity, and promote laws condemning forced marriage and gender-based violence.
To do this, the Budikadidi team developed and distributed sermon guides to religious leaders to help them promote positive values among young people and their parents. In turn, these leaders conducted massive preaching campaigns within their churches, including distributing copies of the law banning forced marriage among traditional chiefs and in the communities.
Religious leaders used the Budikadidi communications guide, radio series, and recorded videos to continue spreading these messages. They organized the “Let Girls Be Girls” and “Books before Babies” campaigns, to raise community awareness around the value of the girl child and the need to send all children, girls, and boys alike to school to prevent forced marriages.In the project’s three health zones, teen pregnancy (under the age of 20) decreased by 11% between 2017 and 2022, according to the Provincial Health Division’s DHIS2 system.
What about young people already involved in forced marriages?
Finally, the Budikadidi team trained nearly 500 community facilitators to organize and carry out advocacy campaigns and actions to uplift young people already in forced marriages. Youth from the Budikadidi clubs, local leaders, and representatives of the village-level government (the CACs) organized dozens of advocacy campaigns. As a part of these efforts, the team worked to identify people who had been forced into marriages, facilitate contact with their families, and support them in pursuing capacity-strengthening efforts. As a result of these advocacy efforts from the youth clubs, more than 88 girls have returned to school.
The Power of Social Behavioral Change?
In the heart of the DRC, the Budikadidi program’s strategic SBC approach worked to fight forced marriages by challenging deeply rooted norms. Working together with local radio stations and religious and traditional leaders proved invaluable for changing community mindsets around forced marriages. Meanwhile, teaching business skills and encouraging local government participation offered young women an alternative to forced marriage. There has been a considerable decline in the number of forced marriages, as reported by the Gender Provincial Division, from 136 cases in 2020, to 76 cases in 2021, and 33 cases in 2022. While more work remains to be done, Budikadidi showcased the dynamic power of SBC in the DRC to challenge entrenched social issues to combat forced marriages.
This blog was submitted to the Gender and Youth Activity as part of the Nourishing Inclusion series, designed to showcase examples of implementers working to improve food security and inclusion around the world. Are you interested in sharing a story of how your team nourishes inclusion? Reach out to GAYA@SaveChildren.org.
