Azerbaijani Georgian child marriage through the lens of NGO workers

Abstract

Child marriage is harmful practice which endures despite the best efforts of interventionists. It is also predominantly experienced by the poor and ethnically Azerbaijani in Georgia. Seen from another angle, it is also a proving ground for discourse between actors with different ideas of how to solve the problem, or whether it is a problem at all. One actor overlooked by most conceptual frameworks is the NGO sphere. Georgian NGOs, which collectively make up Georgian civil society, have met strong turbulence from the state after years of advocating for the rights of peripheralized girls. This case allows for a deeper probing into how civil society members design their interventions on child marriage, as well as how they pitch them to the state for broader implementation. Relying on concepts of power relations developed by Peter M Hall, this research attempts to explain why and how actors create interventions and policy concerning child marriage, rather than describing drivers of child marriage and prescribing solutions. Through a thematic analysis of over 70 written works, this research shows that international relations factors more into child marriage prevention than previously thought. It also improves upon a model which explains child marriage outcomes by adding information about how policy and interventions ultimately arise or sometimes fail to launch.