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.
Itβs estimated that more than 100 million girls under the age of 18 will be married in the next decade.
One country thatβs trying to end the practice of child marriage is Ethiopia. There, the Berhane Hewan programme, meaning βLight for Eveβ in Amharic, promises families a solar-powered light if their daughter remains unmarried and in school until sheβs 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: ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ)
Last on
Broadcasts
- Tue 23 Jul 2019 02:06GMTΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ World Service Online, Europe and the Middle East & West and Central Africa only
- Tue 23 Jul 2019 03:06GMTΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ World Service UK DAB/Freeview
- Tue 23 Jul 2019 05:06GMTΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ World Service Australasia, Americas and the Caribbean & South Asia only
- Tue 23 Jul 2019 06:06GMTΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ World Service East and Southern Africa & East Asia only
- Tue 23 Jul 2019 13:06GMTΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ World Service Australasia
- Tue 23 Jul 2019 14:06GMTΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ World Service except Australasia
- Tue 23 Jul 2019 17:06GMTΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ World Service South Asia
- Tue 23 Jul 2019 19:06GMTΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ World Service except East and Southern Africa, South Asia & West and Central Africa
- Sun 28 Jul 2019 23:06GMTΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ World Service
People fixing the world on YouTube
Watch stories of people changing their world on the World Service English YouTube channel