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According to traditional Zambian law, girls can be married at puberty and sexual relations or marriage before age 16 is not uncommon. Almost one third of Zambian girls are married before 18 and 6% are married before their 15th birthday. Poverty plays a large role, particularly in rural areas. Parents take their daughters out of school and offer them in marriage to older men in exchange for the payment of lobola, a bride dowry.

PWRDF [the Primate's World Relief and Development Fund] has partnered with the Zambian Anglican Council Outreach Program (ZACOP), the development arm of the Zambian Anglican Church working in the five dioceses of Zambia. Early child development, gender justice and gender integration are a few of the core programs ZACOP implements.

Read the whole article at pwrdf.org