In 2025, the joint UNFPA–UNICEF programme to end child marriage supported nearly ten million girls in staying in school or returning to class. Millions more received tools to defend their health, choices and future.
Education as a place of protection
The programme operates in several countries where marriage before age 18 remains common. Its annual report states that more than seven million girls took part in life-skills and comprehensive sexuality education activities in 2025. Nearly ten million were supported to continue or resume their education.
Staying in school does not depend on individual motivation alone. Costs, safety, social norms, domestic work and access to services can all shape an adolescent girl’s path. Interventions therefore combine educational support, information, protection, health services and work with families.
Dialogue involves the entire community
The programme also reports that more than 14 million people participated in community dialogues in 2025. These conversations include parents, local leaders, men and boys. They aim to challenge norms that present early marriage as inevitable or desirable.
This approach recognizes that a girl cannot transform the economic and social rules around her on her own. Public services, schools, health systems and protection mechanisms must work together. Several partner countries have recorded declines in child marriage.
Important gains that remain vulnerable
The figures describe how many people the programme reached; they do not prove that every intervention directly prevented a marriage. Results vary by country, and crises, conflict or poverty can rapidly increase risks. The report also stresses that funding cuts threaten progress.
The 2025 experience nevertheless shows that large-scale action can continue supporting girls even in difficult conditions. Its strength lies in combining practical choices: maintaining access to school, providing appropriate services and creating conversations in which communities can change their own norms.
Participants are not only beneficiaries. Many programmes create groups where adolescent girls can speak, learn about their rights and contribute to local solutions. Some become mentors for younger girls or take part in decisions about schools and services. Giving weight to their experience can make interventions more relevant. It must, however, be accompanied by protection mechanisms and genuine listening to families. Preventing child marriage means expanding girls’ opportunities without making them responsible for structural barriers they did not create. Their safety must remain the priority.
Sources
- UNICEF, 2025 Annual Results Report — Protecting Progress: Adapting to a Changing Aid Landscape, May 22, 2026.
- UNFPA and UNICEF, 2025 Annual Results Report: Global Programme to End Child Marriage, May 2026.
Photo credit: Yannis H and Annie Spratt / Unsplash. Illustrative images; the second was taken in Sierra Leone with the permissions described by the photographer.
Article written in part with the help of AI.
