Advocacy Plan for Forced Marriage in Sudanese Tradition

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Problem Statement

No individual should be forced to commit any action if they do not want to do it. However, it is not valid for developing countries where society follows some rules that significantly limit people’s freedom. It refers to both Sudan and South Sudan, where it is a typical practice that marriage occurs without a woman’s consent. This situation is a violation of human rights, and its high rate denotes that it is necessary to take specific actions to solve the problem.

As has been mentioned, the given issue affects females from Sudanese countries. This problem is the most significant for underage individuals because the report by Oxfam (2019) stipulates that approximately 70% of women in the Sudanese countries become married before they are 18 years old (p. 5). In addition to that, more than 10% of these women enter into marriages even before they are 15 years old (Oxfam, 2019, p. 5). That is why it is possible to say that children fundamentally suffer from the given state of affairs.

The phenomenon of forced marriage is caused by many reasons. Firstly, it refers to the social, political, and economic development of the countries. It is not a surprise that developing nations do not draw much attention to the well-being of the population, while poverty makes individuals withstand various problems. Secondly, South Sudan witnesses the highest forced marriage rates in the region because of a war conflict that has been influencing the nation for many years. However, one can say that the root cause of the problem lies in culture and traditions. It relates to the fact that girls and women are only seen as housewives who have limited civil rights. Thus, Sudanese law stipulates that the age of 10 is the minimum age when girls may enter into marriages (Al-Nagar & Tønnessen, 2018).

The information above means that it is necessary to address the given problem. Since it has many causes and affects many individuals, one cannot find a single action that would solve the issue. Thus, the advocacy plan should consist of a few steps that would affect various components of the problem. They include raising awareness, promoting self-protection, securing food supplies, offering available education, and engaging all social layers in the solution of the problem.

Assemble of the Evidence

Here, it is necessary to comment on how the given problem affects Sudanese society. Firstly, the issue leads to a maternal mortality rate of 28%, which is one of the highest indicators in the world (Oxfam, 2019). It is not a surprise that when females start experiencing sexual encounters early, it results in significant health concerns for them. Secondly, forced marriage often leads to the fact that girls and women are deprived of education. In particular, Oxfam (2019) emphasizes that South Sudan has “the highest rate of out-of-school girls in the world (76%)” (p. 11). Finally, the given tradition makes females subject to emotional, sexual, and physical abuse. This evidence also means that one should develop and implement an effective advocacy plan.

Change Proposal

Here, it is necessary to describe an advocacy plan and its elements. According to Shultz (2002), one should specify objectives that should be reached. In the given case, the goal is to make governments develop and implement appropriate policies to change public behavior. It is possible to achieve these results by addressing various phenomena. Firstly, it is necessary to increase social awareness of the existing problem. According to Oxfam (2019), it relates to revealing the issue in mass media, involving international organizations and local leaders. Secondly, the change proposal should affect both those who suffer and those who abuse.

Consequently, women will know their rights, while appropriate community consultations for men can help explain to them that it is necessary to respect women’s rights and desires. Thirdly, Sudanese governments should address poverty and hunger among the population because these phenomena often make girls obtain marital status. Oxfam (2019) mentions that agriculture offers the necessary capacity for it. Finally, promoting education for females will be another useful option to help them escape undesired marriages. This approach tries to address the problem both socially and politically to reckon on positive outcomes.

Furthermore, it is reasonable to describe what would be different if these changes occur. On the one hand, a better society is going to emerge. On the other hand, Shultz (2002) mentions that it is necessary to understand how much to demand to achieve success. Here, one can say that it would be impossible to eliminate the practice of forced marriage in Sudanese culture at all. Thus, the best variant would be to provide Sudanese girls and women with more rights and reduce forced marriage rates.

Projected Outcome

While the information above has described intended results, it is necessary to draw attention to their specific details. Thus, one should comment on the expected magnitude of the change. As has been mentioned, it is impossible to make forced marriages in Sudan and South Sudan disappear at all because they are a part of the local traditions. Consequently, reaching positive changes is a slow and complicated process. However, a significantly positive outcome will happen if the percentage mentioned above reduces by a quarter in 5-7 years. The measures above have the potential to lead to such results.

Even though the proposed change is going to result in essential benefits, it is not impossible to avoid some unintended outcomes. Perhaps, the most significant problem can arise because the change will try to affect the traditions of the community. As a rule, developing nations draw specific attention to their culture and respond to its modifications adversely. In this case, community consultations and educational opportunities can help mitigate the adverse outcomes of this phenomenon. That is why one can say that addressing forced marriages implies both positive, including reduced social behavior and improved civil rights for women, and negative, including community repulsion, emergent features.

In this case, it is necessary to develop an outcome matrix that will mention specific results that the proposed change is going to achieve. According to the information above, attention will be paid to how many individuals will be subject to forced marriages after this plan is implemented. In addition to that, a focus is placed on how the change proposal will influence the negative effects of forced marriage. Consequently, the expected results are demonstrated in the table below.

Aspect	Current Rate, %	Expected Rate, %
Married before 18	70	53
Married before 15	10	3
Maternal mortality	28	21
Uneducated women	76	58

Tradeoffs

There is no doubt that achieving the result above is possible if responsible individuals and bodies find the necessary resources of decent quality. For example, Oxfam (2019) stipulates that it produces a radio show to raise social awareness of the problem. As for food supplies and education opportunities, it is the responsibility of the government and private organizations to improve the situation. In this case, one should also draw attention to the correlation between private costs and social benefits. Even though the given advocacy plan implies essential investment, it is worth considering because it will result in significant benefits for Sudanese society. Consequently, the more high-quality resources responsible companies will allocate, the better results they will achieve.

Twenty-Dollar Bill Test

One can mention that the proposal above is not complicated, and it does not require much effort. That is why there should be a reason why Sudanese society has not experienced positive changes, and the Twenty-Dollar Bill Test explains it. It refers to the fact that key stakeholders, including men and women, do not believe that it is possible to solve the issue because it has not been addressed up to now. They have accustomed to live in these conditions, and any changes appear to be impossible for them. However, this belief is only a negative phenomenon that prevents people from taking specific actions to address the issue.

Grandma Bessie Test

Since the plan under consideration meets some skepticism, it is necessary to apply the Grandma Bessie Test to present an exhaustive explanation of the ideas. Thus, the given advocacy plan addresses forced marriages and aim at reducing their rates in Sudan and South Sudan. One can reach this result if the governments, private companies, and responsible persons take specific actions to provide individuals with sufficient means of subsistence, social rights, and knowledge of how citizens live in developed countries. Since the given society draws much attention to its culture and traditions, it is impossible to eradicate this phenomenon. However, the plan will be considered successful if the rate of forced marriages decreases at least by a quarter in a few years.

Triangle Analysis

When implementing the change proposal, one should perform the Triangle Analysis that consists of three components, including process, content, and culture, to contribute to the higher effectiveness of the advocacy plan. Firstly, it is necessary to make sure that the idea implies a process that addresses the lack of implementation. For example, it relates to organizing community consultations for men and women. Secondly, the content of the proposal should offer effective policy measures. Here, they include governmental efforts to improve food supplies and strengthen women’s rights in society. Finally, addressing culture is also necessary because forced marriages are considered social norms.

Policy Implementation

Once it has been established that the policy proposal is worth considering, it is necessary to comment on its implementation. Firstly, it is essential to draw attention to accountability and its peculiarities. Shultz (2002) stipulates that this phenomenon is of higher significance when it comes to complex projects that imply divided work. In this case, policy leaders appoint individuals or organizations that are responsible for performing appropriate tasks and establish accountability standards. Thus, there emerge precise tasks and specific deadlines, which often leads to achieving successful results.

Secondly, the information above shows that the advocacy plan implies the ability to transform its goals into an operational framework. As has been mentioned, the change proposal aims at raising awareness, improving food supplies, promoting education, and engaging all social layers. Consequently, these four areas represent various directions of action to be followed. Even though each of them focuses on achieving different goals, their combination creates a framework that is designed to solve the problem of forced marriages in society.

Thirdly, policy implementation can become successful if sufficient resources are available. It equally refers to material and personal resources, and they are especially significant when it comes to food supplies and education opportunities. It is so because governments will not manage to achieve any productive results if they do not have enough food products, teachers, and facilities. As for the nations under consideration, they have some problems with such resources, but they can accumulate them before implementing the proposal.

Policy Evaluation

Another significant step refers to policy evaluation and what criteria to use in this process. Even though Shultz (2002) stipulates that it is challenging to predict a policy impact because events and new threats change, it is still possible to cope with the task. Thus, it is necessary to draw attention to the intended outcomes that have been presented above. According to these data, the advocacy plan will be useful because it aims at achieving specific goals and uses precise figures to measure the results. As has been predicted, the number of forced marriages should decrease by a quarter, which will mean that women will experience more suitable living conditions and exercise human rights. However, had the program under consideration not been implemented, the forced marriage rates would have been the same or even higher. Consequently, Sudanese society would not have changed its attitude toward women, contributing to their complicated lives.

Furthermore, it is reasonable to evaluate and monitor the process to make sure that it has been implemented according to its design. It is necessary to start by raising social awareness because this step will create more individuals who will want to address this issue. After that, one can proceed to address food and education issues and involving multiple members of society in the advocacy plan. It is expected that the problem will lead to positive results that will make the living condition of women in Sudan and South Sudan better. That is why no one can deny that the investment is worth the outcomes.

Window of Opportunity

Finally, one should draw attention to the existing idea that an advocacy plan can be useful if there are suitable conditions. They include the problem, policy, as well as politics, and their combination is known as a window of opportunity (Figueroa et al., 2018). Firstly, this model stipulates that any change proposal should be a response to a problem. In this case, it refers to the challenging role of women in Sudanese society. The second element stands for policy and implies the moment when an advocacy plan is needed. As for the example, it has been mentioned that the forced marriage rate is one of the highest in the world, which justifies immediate actions.

The third component, politics, means that society has sufficient motivation and resources to address the issue. Here, some problems can appear, but it is possible to solve the problem with the help of international assistance.

Conclusion

The phenomenon of forced marriages is a severe problem for developing countries, where the population draws specific attention to its traditions. Even though they believe that this process does not imply any concerns, it is necessary to improve the position of women in such societies. In this case, it is reasonable to consider raising social awareness, enhancing food supplies, promoting education, and engaging all community layers in solving the problem. The given advocacy plan is a complicated process, but it can reduce the forced marriage rates in Sudan and South Sudan.

References

Al-Nagar, S., & Tønnessen, L. (2018). Family law reform in Sudan: A never ending story? CMI Brief, (2018:08), 1-6.

Figueroa, C., Castillo, E. G., Norquist, G., Wells, K. B., Griffith, K., Kadkhoda, F., … Bromley, E. (2018). A window of opportunity: Visions and strategies for behavioral health policy innovation. Ethnicity & Disease, 28(2), 407-416.

Oxfam. (2019). Born to be married: Addressing early and forced marriage in Nyal, South Sudan. Web.

Shultz, J. (2002). The democracy owners’ manual: A practical guide to changing the world. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

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