Dang, November 6
The Lumbini provincial government will run a child marriage reduction program at all local levels of the province.
The program aims to make the province free of child marriage. To implement the conditional grant given to local levels for fiscal year 2026/27 effectively, the provincial government has issued the Child Marriage Reduction Conditional Grant Program Implementation Procedure, 2083.
Under the procedure, sub-metropolitan cities, municipalities and rural municipalities in the province must run child marriage reduction programs through their responsible branches.
The main target groups are students in grades 6 to 12, out-of-school girls and adolescents aged 12 to 18, and their parents. Teachers will also take part. The procedure says programs must make the target groups aware of the social, educational, health and legal consequences of child marriage.
It requires local levels to identify the areas, communities and groups at risk of child marriage, and to give special counselling to out-of-school adolescent girls.
Experts and motivators from the judicial, security and administrative sectors can also train people on child marriage and its legal consequences. The procedure allows people who have contributed to reducing child marriage over a long period to be mobilised as trainers.
Local levels must spend the grant in all of their wards where possible. They must also collect annual data on child marriage and focus programs on the settlements, tols, communities and wards where it is most common.
The programs may include screenings of documentaries and short films against child marriage, street plays and other awareness activities.
Local levels can spend up to 15 percent of the grant on publicising the program through local radio, television, online media and newspapers.
The provincial government said it issued the procedure to lay the foundation for a child-marriage-free province and to protect and promote child rights. It also aims to change the thinking and behaviour of children, parents, teachers, and social and religious leaders toward child marriage.
