The purpose of the technical notes was to provide short notes on key themes for Phase 2 of the Global Programme and replace the previous, lengthy programme guidance document. The technical notes are based on the latest available evidence; explain, elaborate and clarify the Global Programme’s programming strategies; provide practical and operational guidance with a ‘how to’ lens for country implementation; and promote and advocate the Global Programme’s work and programming strategies.

 

In writing the technical notes, we collaborated with UNICEF and UNFPA technical specialists in New York. While some of the technical notes were summaries of existing UNICEF and UNFPA documents, others were developed from scratch.

 

Some technical notes required consultation with multiple sections of UNICEF and UNFPA including gender and social policy to ensure that the notes were in line with the latest thinking of gender-transformative approaches and with state-of-the-art evidence on what works to end child marriage. For example, the note on adolescent-girl responsive systems was a collaborative effort with reproductive health, education and social protection teams, highlighting the need to approach ending violence against girls, adolescent reproductive health, girls’ education and livelihood opportunities in multi-sectoral ways.

 

Moving out of conceptual and programmatic silos was a theme that ran across most of the technical notes, including the notes on convergent programming, going to scale, leaving no one behind, as well as on child marriage and the law. This required all involved to have an open mind and adapt the papers to the perspectives of different disciplines and sectors and to new evidence, even if it challenged preconceived notions and approaches.

 

One of the most challenging notes to develop was the paper on ‘child marriage and the law’. The initial title was ‘criminalization and child marriage’ and the first draft was based largely on legal analyses from human rights and gender specialists. Through three drafts and critiques by lawyers, the note moved away from legalistic perspectives, minimised the focus on criminal law and concentrated on the challenges and opportunities the law presents to policy makers and programme specialists. Accordingly, the title of the note was changed to ‘Child Marriage and the Law’, with an emphasis on using the law to support programmatic efforts to end child marriage.