USAID’s Health Finance and Governance (HFG) project helps to improve health in developing countries by expanding people’s access to health care. Led by Abt Global, the project team works with partner countries to increase their domestic resources for health, manage those precious resources more effectively, and make wise purchasing decisions.

Child marriage is a symptom of poverty and gender inequalities. Girls who marry early are more likely to die from maternal health-related causes; are less likely to stay in school; and are more likely to participate in a vicious cycle to reinforce intergenerational poverty. In Bangladesh, early marriage remains a significant challenge. In 2012, USAID-Bangladesh approached UNICEF to explore possible areas of cooperation around delaying child marriage. UNICEF partnered with (HFG), USAID’s flagship health systems strengthening project led by Abt Global, and other key stakeholders to design and implement a monitoring framework for assessing implementation of tracer interventions to delay child marriage and measure social norms. This activity builds on the existing UNICEF-wide monitoring framework – Monitoring Results for Equity Systems (MoRES).