Egypt’s National Council for Childhood and Motherhood (NCCM) will launch a pilot programme to provide girls with vocational and technical training to offer families economic alternatives to child marriage, the council’s head said.
Child marriage is out
Sahar El-Sombaty, President of the NCCM, stated during a roundtable titled “Economic Empowerment as a Pivotal Tool to Reduce Child Marriage” that although child marriage is prohibited in Egypt, the council is coordinating with the Ministry of Justice and religious institutions to draft a formal legal framework to criminalise the practice. While Egyptian law currently bars the registration of marriages for those under 18, the proposed legislation aims to establish penal consequences for perpetrators in response to health and psychological risks that El-Sombaty noted can lead to maternal mortality.
The initiative, conducted in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), seeks to address the social and economic dimensions of child marriage. El-Sombaty described the practice as a grave violation of children’s rights that leads to lower education rates, increased risks of gender-based violence, and poor reproductive health indicators.
The proposed training will focus on traditional heritage crafts as well as modern technological skills aligned with current market requirements. El-Sombaty said the council intends to implement this model as a pilot project before generalising it across Egypt’s governorates based on local needs.
“Economic empowerment of girls is one of the most important tools for sustainable protection,” El-Sombaty said. She added that the strategy extends beyond providing income to building skills that allow girls to integrate into the modern labour market.
The council’s prevention strategy includes awareness activities for child protection units, community education facilitators, and NGO specialists. These efforts aim to highlight the health and social risks of the practice and shift negative cultural patterns.
El-Sombaty also emphasised the need for parallel efforts to reduce school dropout rates and combat child labour, identifying both as primary drivers of child marriage. She noted that the NCCM continues to intervene in reported cases via the national child helpline (16000), which allows protection committees to take immediate action to halt marriages.
The roundtable was attended by NCCM board members Mireille Nessim and Hanan Girgis, UNFPA Assistant Representative Germaine Haddad, and UNFPA Youth and Children Programme Manager Rasha Abu El-Azm. Representatives from the Egyptian parliament, various ministries, and international organisations were also present.
Participants at the meeting highlighted the importance of integrated interventions, including legislation and economic support, to ensure girls are protected from entering the labour market under the legal age and to safeguard their developmental rights.
