Maddie Bond, MSc Public Health, carried out primary research into child marriage in Malawi with the help of the Chancellor’s Fund. Building on previous research she had undertaken, she sought to understand the links between child marriage and various physical health problems and the links between child marriage and intimate partner violence. The research also allowed her to gain an understanding as to what impact Malawi’s new marriage bill has had on attitudes to child marriage and views on the new marriage bill at a community level.
“The funding provided allowed me to follow my passion of tackling women’s and girl’s issues in the developing world.”
The award enabled this research by covering transport and accommodation costs during the data collection stage of the study and allowed her to gain an insight into the experiences of those girls that have suffered the effects of child marriage.
The findings from this research make a significant contribution to understanding the problem of child marriage and its effects on adolescent girls and their health. The primary data collection not only benefited the overall quality of her dissertation but can also assist in the development field, and specifically in Malawi, where the issue of child marriage is particularly prevalent. Analysis of the data collected allowed for some interesting conclusions to be drawn in relation to the links between child marriage and intimate partner violence, the underlying causes of child marriage and the health consequence of the practice.
Since completing the research, she registered her own social enterprise, Time Malawi, which seeks to empower women and girls in rural Malawi by running economic development projects and supporting further academic research.