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    HomeNewsTraditional leaders, community join hands to end child marriages in Mutasa

    Traditional leaders, community join hands to end child marriages in Mutasa

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    Mutasa- (New Ziana) – In an effort to tackle child marriages in Mutasa district, traditional leaders and some community members in the area have embarked on a program aimed at combating the scourge.

    The exercise, according to the traditional leadership has brought positive developments in the area as more female students are now proceeding with their education up to high school with others going up to tertiary level.

    The ministry of Public Service Labour and Social Welfare working closely with partners like the United Nations Children’s Education Fund (UNICEF) with support from the Swedish Government provided child protection training to the traditional leaders and some selected community members in child protection which saw beneficiaries engaging the local community to end child marriages and other social vices.

    In an interview, headman Cosmas Sakupwanya said child marriages remain one of the major challenges bedeviling Mutasa district.

    “We have cases of early child marriages in this area, which led me to direct all village heads under my jurisdiction to verify the ages of newly married girls in their villages using their birth certificates,” said head Sakupwanya.

    In the event that they establish that the married girl is still a minor, said headman Sakupwanya, they take up the matter with relevant authorities like the police or the department of social welfare to ensure that she is brought back to her family with same isolated cases being referred to the police.

    Following the implementation of this program, the headman said more girls are now enrolling and completion high school with others proceeding to tertiary education.

    Another traditional leader, headman George Sanyamandwe echoed the same sentiments saying through the training they now know that it is not every case that they should preside over, but other serious cases such rape are referred to the police for courts to deal with.

    Headman Sanyamandwe said they were experiencing challenges of early child marriages with certain religious sects, which they have however resolved through engagements following the training.

    Blessing Mandigo a ward 11 Community Care Worker (CCW) who also received the same training said when ever a minor girl is taken in as wife they step in and provide counseling before taking her back to her parents and encourage her to proceed with her education.

    “We also engage village heads and community members to report child marriage cases, warning them that failure to do so would result in the arrest and prosecution of either the perpetrator, the village head or the parents of the man who would have accepted a minor as a bride or arresting all of them,” he said.-

    New Ziana

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