Stopping child marriage with solar lanterns
In Ethiopia, thousands of girls are being given small solar-powered lanterns. The lamps are helping to stop child marriage and changing the way girls are seen.
It’s estimated that more than 100 million girls under the age of 18 will be married in the next decade.
One country that’s trying to end the practice of child marriage is Ethiopia. There, the Berhane Hewan programme, meaning ‘Light for Eve’ in Amharic, promises families a solar-powered light if their daughter remains unmarried and in school until she’s at least 18. This approach is known as a conditional asset transfer.
The solar lanterns enable girls to study after dark and they can also be used to charge mobile phones, which is particularly useful in remote areas with no electricity. Girls are taught to make money from the lanterns by charging neighbours to power up their mobile phones too.
People Fixing the World visits Dibate, a small village in western Ethiopia. More than 600 girls in this part of the country have received a solar lamp.
Reported by Lily Freeston
Produced by Ruth Evans and Hadra Ahmed
(Photo Credit: Â鶹ԼÅÄ)
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