Written by: Bernard Otu Assim-ita
Girls in northern Nigeria navigating learning environments, where access to education and protection is shaped by the strength of surrounding systems and community support.
Across many communities in northern Nigeria, the future of a girl is shaped long before she is able to name her own ambitions. Child marriage persists not because girls lack potential, but because the systems meant to protect them often fall short. Where education pathways are fragile, where coordination between sectors is weak, and where community realities are not fully reflected in policy decisions, early marriage becomes a default rather than a choice.
At the same time, Nigeria is not starting from a place of absence. National and state governments have taken important steps, including the adoption of the Revised National Strategy to End Child Marriage. Across ministries, agencies, and state-level institutions, there is growing recognition that ending child marriage is central to girls’ rights, education, and national development. The challenge lies in translating these commitments into consistent action at subnational level, particularly in high-prevalence contexts.
Consortium partners convene in Abuja to align on governance, coordination, and implementation approaches for strengthening systems to end child marriage.
The Strengthening Systems and Communities to End Child Marriage project, known as SSCE, begins from this reality. Supported by the Malala Fund and led by Education as a Vaccine, the project is built on the understanding that lasting change does not come from isolated interventions, but from systems that are coordinated, resourced, and responsive to the communities they serve. SSCE brings together a consortium of civil society organisations, including Civil Society Action Coalition On Education for All (CSACEFA), OneLife Initiative, and Youth Hub Africa, each contributing distinct strengths across policy engagement, coalition coordination, research and learning, social behavioural change and youth mobilisation.
Organisations on the Malala SSCE-JAG project working in partnership to support coordinated, accountable efforts to end child marriage in Nigeria.
Child marriage rarely results from a single decision. It emerges from the intersection of poverty, disrupted education, social expectations, and institutional gaps. Addressing it, therefore, requires state systems that can plan and implement effectively, civil society coalitions that can sustain advocacy and accountability, credible evidence that informs decisions, and community and youth voices that are recognised as essential to solutions.
This approach will be implemented across Adamawa, Borno, Kano, Kaduna, and Bauchi States, alongside national-level engagement through the Federal Capital Territory. These contexts reflect both the urgency of the challenge and the opportunity to demonstrate how national policy frameworks can be operationalised at state level when actors are aligned and supported. Throughout the project, collaboration with government stakeholders remains central, building on existing efforts while supporting greater coherence and practical application.
Youth engagement remains central to SSCE, recognising young people as active contributors to solutions that affect their lives and communities.
The project formally commenced with a consortium inception convening in Abuja in January 2026. Partners came together not to announce outcomes, but to establish a shared foundation for the work ahead. This early alignment reflects a deliberate choice to prioritise coordination and trust, recognising that effective partnerships are built before activities begin.
What SSCE offers is an opportunity to strengthen mechanisms that will promote efforts towards ending child marriage in Nigeria. It is found in clearer pathways for state actors to implement existing policies, in stronger collaboration between civil society organisations, in evidence that reflects lived realities, and in young people especially girls who are supported to participate meaningfully in decisions that affect their lives. It is not a promise of quick solutions, but a commitment to building the conditions that allow change to take hold.
Ending child marriage requires patience, consistency, and shared responsibility. By strengthening systems and supporting communities, SSCE aims to contribute to a future where a girl’s life is shaped not by early marriage, but by opportunity, choice, and the full protection of her rights.