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Abstract

This study uses Positive Deviance (PD) to understand and prevent child marriage by abduction in a community in the Southern Nations Nationalities and People’s Region of Ethiopia. Marriage by abduction entails the kidnapping of girls between the ages of 10 and 14 for forced genital circumcision, rape, and marriage. PD, as a form of participatory action research, is a problem-solving approach that mobilizes a community to uncover existing yet unrecognized solutions to solve the specific problem. In this study, the community discovered that some members practice behaviors and strategies that can prevent child marriage by abduction. The results support PD application to this specific form of child marriage as well as the practice as a whole, offering an alternative to traditional behavior change methodology for social transformation.

Keywords

Participatory action research positive deviance child marriage abduction behavior change Ethiopia

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Unearthing local forms of child protection: Positive deviance and abduction in Ethiopia

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