According to HEY!’s theory of action, if students study HEY!’s curriculum in a formal educational setting in homogenous groups through a peer education system using a pedagogical approach based on critical and feminist pedagogies (English and Irving, 2015; Freire, 2000; Shrewsbury, 1993) and the capabilities approach (Walker, 2012), students will be exposed to:
a) Information and image-based knowledge (Gerrard et al., 2008) that will give them the opportunity to be equipped with a cognitive repertoire to aid them in making informed decisions about child marriage and romantic relationships
b) The opportunity to experience cognitive dissonance (Festinger 1962) that will provide students the chances to explore personal and social realities in which they live in and will challenge previous conceptions about gender inequality and false beliefs they might have about CM
c) The biological, cognitive, social, psychosocial, and structural causes as well as the negative personal, health, educational, economic, social, and legal consequences of child marriage
As a result of this exposure, through HEY!’s curriculum, adolescents will ideally:
Be able to enhance their decision-making processes to make informed decisions about CM and will be empowered to push the constraints imposed by their socio-economic reality.