Edoovillage #2732 - Uganda, Karugutu Town Council: The Care Trust

Promoting digital literacy to mitigate the foundations of Child, Early, and Forced Marriage (CEFM) in Karugutu Town Council – Western Uganda is a project that will use the donated laptops to provide ICT skills as one way to equip the youth (13-30 years) with ICT knowledge on how to access digital information regarding the realities of CEFM, how to respond and how to access support services or groups that are willing to offer swift intervention as well as exposure and clear understanding of the root causes of CEFM. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), international laws, treaties, and conventions have defined child marriage (also called early marriage) as a formal or informal union where one or both parties are under the age of 18 which occurs without the free and full consent of both spouses; therefore it includes child and early marriage, as children under 18 are not able to give full consent which has been confirmed as a human-rights violation and an impediment to sustainable development. Our findings in Karugutu Town Council reveals that 1 out of 10 youths between 13-30 years lack and have no access to ICT services, such lack of ICT knowledge is the leading cause of social isolation, making it difficult for these youth to connect with support networks and organizations working to prevent CEFM; without access to online communities or forums, these youth remain unaware of the prevalence of CEFM and available assistance; they are unable to use online platforms for anonymous reporting or seeking help without disclosing their identities; they are restricted from accessing online educational resources that provide information about healthy relationships, consent, and personal autonomy; they are more susceptible to traditional norms and practices that perpetuate CEFM as well as being more susceptible to misinformation and manipulation by individuals promoting CEFM.
Hence, continued occurrence of CEFM amidst the lack of ICT knowledge further brings closer more negative consequences at the individual and household levels and it impacts. At an individual level, CEFM has been associated with poor health outcomes, such as early sexual debut and early pregnancy; due to limited autonomy and access to family planning information and services, married teens are less likely to use contraceptives than their unmarried counterparts; Married girls are also more likely to have unprotected sex than unmarried girls or married adult women, due to low negotiating power within their marriages. Because of these factors, child brides in Karugutu Town Council have continued to face higher risks of contracting sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and in some settings, are more likely to be HIV positive; Additionally, early pregnancy is among the leading causes of death among 15- to 17-year-old girls in this area.
https://tctug.org/