1
Rescue
Safe identification and removal with government child-protection authorities, followed by medical, psychosocial, and basic-needs care.
FASII Flagship Girls' Protection & Reintegration Initiative
Girls
Back Home
Rescue, Restitution and Reintegration of Girls Forced into Child Marriage in Sub-Saharan Africa
Helping girls return home safely, rebuild their lives, return to school or vocational training, and remain free from child marriage while strengthening families and communities so the cycle does not continue into the next generation.
Safe Girls
Strong Families
Thriving Communities
Brighter Africa
Strong Families
Thriving Communities
Brighter Africa
1,200
Girls targeted for rescue and formal marriage dissolution
900
Girls targeted for school or vocational training
6,000
At-risk girls protected through prevention clubs
150
Communities targeted for prevention and local protection
The Challenge
A Crisis Hidden in Plain Sight
Child marriage in Sub-Saharan Africa is declining more slowly than anywhere else in the world. Behind every statistic is a girl whose education, health, independence, and future can be permanently altered.
640M
Girls and women alive today were married as children globally.
1 in 5
Of the world's child brides live in Sub-Saharan Africa.
~76%
Of young women in Niger married before age 18.
200+ yrs
Projected time to end child marriage in the region at today's pace.
Source cited in the program proposal: UNICEF, Is an End to Child Marriage within Reach? (2023). Latest statistics should be verified before final grant submission.
Why Rescue Alone Fails
Poverty Makes the Agreement. Debt Keeps the Girl in It.
A family crisis, failed harvest, or persistent poverty can lead to bride-price payments being accepted and quickly spent. When the family later tries to bring the girl home, the inability to repay the obligation can force her back into the marriage.
Poverty
A failed harvest or crisis leaves a family desperate.
Bride Price
Cash, cattle, or goods are accepted and quickly spent.
Marriage
The girl is sent to her husband's household.
Sent Back
Rescue can fail when the family cannot repay the obligation.
Many countries now establish 18 as the minimum legal marriage age,
but a law alone cannot repay a family debt. Girls Back Home addresses
the gap between a family wanting its daughter back and having the
economic ability to make that return permanent.
Our Solution
One Integrated Pathway
Four connected pillars make a return to child marriage unnecessary and unacceptable. Rescue alone is not enough. Long-term safety requires legal dissolution, economic recovery, education, and community protection.
2
Restitution
A governed fund addresses verified bride-price obligations so the unlawful marriage agreement can be formally dissolved.
3
Recovery
Cash support, livelihoods assistance, and savings groups reduce the economic pressure that helped drive the marriage.
4
Reintegration
Girls return to school or training with mentorship, 24-month follow-up, and community-level protection.
Why Integration Matters
No Single Element Works on Its Own.
Rescue without restitution can be temporary. Restitution without economic recovery can leave the same pressure intact. Economic recovery without education limits future opportunity. Education without community norm change leaves the next generation at risk.
The Journey Home
Eight Steps From Rescue to a Restored Future
Every girl moves through a structured process with a responsible team and documented handoff at each stage.
1
Community mapping and early identification
2
Best-interest assessment and safe rescue
3
Medical, psychosocial and basic-needs care
4
Family dialogue and mediation with local leaders
5
Formal dissolution and bride-price restitution
6
Family economic recovery, livelihoods and savings
7
Return to school, training and mentorship
8
24-month follow-up and community norm change
The Bride-Price Restitution Fund
It Does Not Buy a Girl. It Clears a Documented Debt.
The fund addresses a verified financial obligation so an unlawful agreement can end safely and formally. The mechanism includes strict controls intended to prevent abuse, avoid creating incentives, and preserve legal accountability.
Debt verified.
Social welfare officers, traditional leadership, and program staff verify the documented obligation.
Social welfare officers, traditional leadership, and program staff verify the documented obligation.
Paid directly.
Approved restitution goes directly to the verified party owed, with public witnessing.
Approved restitution goes directly to the verified party owed, with public witnessing.
Released only with dissolution.
Payment requires documented formal dissolution of the unlawful marriage arrangement.
Payment requires documented formal dissolution of the unlawful marriage arrangement.
Average USD 250 per case.
The proposal establishes an average restitution value with a hard program cap.
The proposal establishes an average restitution value with a hard program cap.
Fund Safeguards
Restitution With Clear Boundaries
The program includes safeguards designed to prevent restitution from creating incentives for future child marriages.
District Cut-Off Date
Agreements made after program launch are handled through law and child-protection systems rather than restitution payments.
One Time Per Family
Younger sisters are automatically enrolled in prevention programming rather than creating repeat restitution eligibility.
Justice Is Never Replaced
Abuse remains reportable to authorities. Restitution does not replace legal or criminal accountability.
Independently Audited
The fund is ring-fenced, requires dual sign-off, and is subject to annual external audit.
What Your Investment Achieves
Measurable Change in 36 Months
The program measures not only rescue, but whether girls remain safe, unmarried, economically supported, and connected to education or vocational opportunity after their return home.
1,200
Girls rescued and marriages formally dissolved
1,200
Families supported to overcome the poverty pressures
that contribute to child marriage
900
Girls returned to school or vocational training
6,000
At-risk girls protected through prevention clubs
150
Communities targeted for bylaws banning child marriage
90%+
Target safe and unmarried at 24-month follow-up
Stronger Communities
Lasting Change for Generations
Girls Back Home is designed to move beyond individual rescue. The initiative works with communities to establish protective norms, strengthen reporting systems, support local leadership, and build prevention structures that continue after the initial intervention.
Community bylaws
Prevention clubs
Local volunteers
Government linkages
Family savings groups
Long-term monitoring
Implementation Roadmap
A 36-Month Path to Sustainable Change
The program begins by establishing safeguarding, government agreements, community mapping, staffing, baseline systems, and locally validated restitution values before moving toward full implementation and local ownership.
Inception
Staff recruitment, government agreements, community mapping, baseline assessment, safeguarding systems, and restitution-value validation.
Launch
Train volunteers, activate reporting systems, begin safe rescues and formal dissolutions, and start school re-entry.
Scale
Expand across all 150 communities, adopt local bylaws, and conduct the independent mid-term evaluation.
Sustain
Transfer structures toward local ownership, complete follow-up and final evaluation, and document the model for replication.
Safeguarding, Accountability & Sustainability
The Girl Comes First
Safeguarding, financial controls, independent evaluation, and local ownership are designed into the program from the beginning.
The Girl Comes First
Her views are recorded throughout the process. Staff follow codes of conduct and background-check requirements, and consent is required before any story or image is used.
Accountable by Design
Case management, confidential complaints mechanisms, quarterly financial review, external audit, and independent evaluations support accountability.
Built to Last
Community bylaws, trained volunteers, government-system linkages, and self-managed savings groups are designed to continue beyond the grant period.
From Risk to Possibility
Her Future Should Be Her Choice.
Returning home is only the beginning. The goal is a future in which girls can continue their education, build skills, pursue livelihoods, participate in their communities, and make decisions about their own lives.
Join the Solution
Help 1,200 Girls Get Their Lives Back
Your support helps provide safe rescue, formal dissolution, carefully governed restitution, family economic recovery, healthcare, psychosocial support, education, mentorship, and long-term protection.
Educate a Girl
Strengthen a Family
Transform a Community
Change a Generation