Incorporating life skills for developing personal agency to prevent child marriage: A case study from rural areas of Honduras

• In Event: Life skills education for youth: Critical perspectives

Proposal

Honduras has the fourth highest prevalence of child marriage in Latin America. In Honduras, it is common that girls exercise agency in their decision to marry. This means that girls are not always forced to marry by their parents, community members or their partners. Instead, in some cases, girls choose to run away with their partners in the absence of any coercion. However, in most cases, this decision to marry at a young age is usually influenced by the lack of alternative life options available for girls and cultural norms that promote gender inequality. There is a need for interventions that address the agency exercised by girls in contexts where they have limited educational and economic opportunities. This presentation discusses the results of a secondary school-based intervention aimed at preventing child marriage through the development of a curriculum that focuses on strengthening skills for personal agency.

Author

• Diana Patricia Pacheco Montoya, University of California, Berkeley