By Moses Magadza in Johannesburg, South Africa

A new regional dashboard tracking implementation of the SADC Model Law on Eradicating Child Marriage and Protecting Children Already in Marriage was launched in Johannesburg on Monday, 12^th September 2026, raising hopes that commitments to protect girls will be matched by closer scrutiny and action.

Officially launching the tool, SADC Parliamentary Forum (SADCPF) Vice President Hon. Sylvia Lucas-Izaks described it as a milestone in strengthening evidence-based action and accountability across the region.

“The Dashboard is a milestone in our collective effort to strengthen evidence-based action and accountability, so that every girl is counted, every commitment is tracked, and every gap is seen,” she said.

Hon Lucas urged stakeholders to access, use, and share the dashboard to monitor progress, identify gaps, and inform decisions. She called on them to turn information into action and commitments into results, so that accountability leads to lasting change for girls.

The dashboard is intended to help parliaments and ministries track implementation, assess the Model Law’s impact and determine how far it has been incorporated into national laws and policies.

By organising information on progress and bottlenecks, it aims to guide targeted recommendations and strengthen parliamentary oversight.

SADC PF Secretary General Her Excellency Boemo Sekgoma highlighted the partnership that made the tool possible. She explained that the work brought together parliamentarians, traditional leaders, civil society, young people, technical experts and development partners through a Technical Working Group that included UNFPA, UNICEF, Plan International, Girls Not Brides, Hivos, CARE International and Equality Now, alongside the SADC PF.

“Our partners did not simply lend their names to the process. They helped drive it,” H.E. Sekgoma said and thanked partners for their contributions of expertise, time, financial support and other resources.

The collaboration produced, also, a Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning framework, a Theory of Change and minimum programme standards. H.E. Sekgoma said these resources could help identify implementation challenges and inform responses at national and regional levels.

“I never lost sleep over whether the work would be done. I knew that colleagues and partners had taken responsibility and would see it through,” she said.

Calling the dashboard “a game changer for parliamentary oversight and accountability,” the SG urged Member Parliaments and national stakeholders to “populate it meticulously, update it regularly and use it in scrutiny, law reform, budgeting and public accountability.”

Partners welcomed the dashboard and expressed optimism that it would become a working accountability tool. Speaking on behalf of civil society organisations, Hivos Zambia Country Manager Ms Limpo Chinika said it should serve “not merely as a repository of information, but as a practical tool for monitoring progress, identifying gaps and driving action.”

She said, “Evidence must inform decisions. Decisions must shape budgets. Budgets must support implementation. And implementation must improve lives.”

UNFPA Deputy Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, Ms Young Hong, also welcomed the dashboard as a means of helping close the gap between regional commitments and results for girls and young people.

“Almost one in three girls marries before the age of 18,” she noted. Ms Hong urged parliamentarians to use their legislative, budgetary and oversight powers to ensure commitments are translated into effective programmes, adequately resourced and producing measurable results.

Young people, too, insisted that the dashboard’s value would depend on what leaders did with it. Ms Aneth Michael of Plan International Tanzania, a young woman and long-standing member of the Technical Working Group, challenged decision-makers to make the tool count.

“A dashboard cannot end child marriage unless the people with the power to act are willing to act,” she said.

Ms Michael called for stronger legal protections, funding for girls’ education, child protection and sexual and reproductive health services, and meaningful participation by young people. “Do not simply speak about us. Listen to us,” she urged.

A representative of the East African Community (EAC) said his bloc hoped to learn from the SADC PF’s new dashboard to strengthen monitoring and reporting across its member states.

Dr Lawrence Godiah, Partnerships and Resource Mobilisation Officer in the Office of the EAC Secretary General, said he had been sent to the Johannesburg launch “principally to come and learn” through peer exchange.

He said the EAC has had a Child Policy since 2016, alongside a Child Rights Monitoring Framework. Partner states have developed monitoring tools, evaluated them and conducted a midterm evaluation of the policy in 2022.

But Dr Godiah said the Community Secretariat had yet to establish a framework for countries to report on selected indicators.

“We have failed them as a secretariat, I guess, to set up a framework like this where they can report these indicators that they have selected,” he said.

Dr Godiah said EAC partner states were eager for such a system and pointed to progress in Tanzania, Kenya and Rwanda. He said the Secretariat needed to help ensure that national progress was properly documented and reported.

In Kenya, for example, he said there was parity between girls and boys sitting university entry examinations but that such gains needed to be captured in reporting.

He said he expected to rely on development partners present at the launch to help advance the work at the EAC Secretariat. He described the session as a useful learning opportunity and expressed hope for “a more deepened relationship” between the EAC and SADC.

The launch brought together SADC PF parliamentarians and representatives of the United Nations, civil society and development partners, as well as traditional leaders.

Among those present were Chief Madzimawe, SADC Convener of the Coalition of Traditional Leaders in Africa (COTLA); Chief Chamuka, traditional leader of the Lenje people of Zambia; and Fumukazi Zilanie, a traditional leader and child-rights advocate from Malawi.

The dashboard marks another step in a regional effort that began with the SADC PF’s call for concerted action against child marriage in 2014. The Forum developed the Model Law in 2016 and, with UNFPA, a guide to using it in 2018.

H.E. Sekgoma said eradicating child marriage requires more than laws and declarations. “It calls for sustained leadership, resources, vigilance and action in every community,” she said.

-Moses Magadza is the Media and Communications Manager at the SADC Parliamentary Forum.