In 2007, Duke University, Bangladesh Development Society, and Save the Children collaborated on a project called Empowering Girls in Rural Bangladesh. The project aimed to reduce child marriage in 50 unions across Barishal, Bhola, and Patuakhali districts by providing financial and educational incentives. The study followed up with project participants in 2011 and 2016 to assess the long-term effects on factors like age at marriage, education, maternal and child health, and human capital. The research is currently in its fourth round, led by BIGD and financially supported by Duke University. The study focuses on local respondents who initially took part in the research in the mentioned districts of Bangladesh.
Researchers: Sakib Mahmood, PhD; Raffaella Dimastrochicco; Maisha Maliha Rahman; Hasibul Hasan; Md. Rakib Hossain
Partners: Duke University
Timeline: 2023-2024
Status: Ongoing
Contact: Md. Rakib Hossain; rakib.hossain@bracu.ac.bd
Context
Early marriage is highly correlated with poor health outcomes for women and their children via numerous potential causal pathways. Despite legal restrictions, child marriage remains prevalent globally. Policymakers have pushed for more elaborate strategies to reduce child marriage, making it especially pressing to accurately measure the impact of delaying marriage on individual well-being and to provide evidence on causal pathways and policy cost-effectiveness.
In 2007, Duke University, Bangladesh Development Society, and Save the Children launched the Empowering Girls in Rural Bangladesh project to combat child marriage. They offered financial and educational incentives to delay marriage in 50 unions across Barishal, Bhola, and Patuakhali districts. The study tracked participants in 2011 and 2016 to evaluate the project’s impact on age at marriage, education, and its subsequent effects on maternal and child health and human capital. This time, through the fourth round of data collection, the effect of increased age at marriage and education on maternal and child health and human capital will be assessed.
Objectives
BIGD is the implementing partner of the research with financial assistance from Duke University. The study aims to assess the impact of delayed marriage and improved human capital on women’s health and their children’s well-being. It seeks to quantitatively analyze the pathways through which delayed marriage and increased human capital affect health outcomes, including the role of additional schooling and increased empowerment within households. Additionally, the research intends to quantitatively examine how skin color influences marriage, self-image, and economic activity among young women in Bangladesh.
This study is relevant to SDG 5 (gender equality), particularly empowering girls through the eradication of child marriage.
Methodology
This research employed a mixed-method approach, comprising multiple stages, beginning with a phone survey serving as a first contact with study participants, to locate them and collect new contact information. Subsequently, the Woman Survey will collect participants’ background information and contain comprehensive modules on income-generation, attitudes towards marriage and motherhood, health seeking behaviour and knowledge, and mental and physical well-being. The Child Survey will measure children’s physical and psychological health as well as cognitive ability. This study will follow participants that were first selected to take part in the Kishoree Kantha programme run in collaboration with Save the Children.
Findings and Recommendations
Forthcoming
