The Global estimate of girls who are affected by forced early child marriage is about 650 million. The AU has been trying to address this issue and they launched the African Union Campaign to End Child Marriage in Africa. This Campaign was launched in 2014 during the 4th AU Conference. The campaign was initially set to last for 2 years (2014-2016) but was extended to 2018, targeting 30 high prevalent countries. It compliments from the years of experience of campaigns around harmful practices such as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). This led to the adoption of the Common African Position on the African Union to End Child Marriage, this Common African Position comprises of 17 commitments.
The Workshop was held on the 29th to 31st October 2019 and the main aim of the workshop was to bring together Civil Society Organizations and government representatives actively engaged in the campaign to End Child Marriage to come up with a National Scorecard on the implementation of the Common Position on Ending Child Marriage in Africa.