At a glance: Reaches girls while still in secondary school, before many key decision points around early marriage and school withdrawal arise.
The starting problem
NUK's legal aid casework consistently showed that intervention before a marriage was finalised produced substantially better outcomes than intervention afterward — but most cases were, by necessity, identified reactively through existing community networks rather than proactively.
What the project does
- Delivers plain-language sessions on legal protections against child marriage and dowry demands directly in secondary schools.
- Provides basic reproductive and adolescent health education, often students' first formal exposure to the topic.
- Connects students directly to NUK's legal aid and counselling contacts in their district before a crisis point is reached.
Why schools, specifically
Reaching girls while still enrolled allows NUK to intervene before the decision points its Legal Aid & Early Marriage Prevention Program and Family Development Program otherwise address only after the fact.
Where it stands now
The project is expanding into additional districts, prioritising areas where field reporting indicates early marriage rates remain highest.