Building an Intersectoral Movement to End Child Marriage: Insights from the 15th AWID Forum

The year 2024 marked significant progress in the global movement to end child marriage. While tireless efforts to shift attitudes through gender-transformative approaches continued, several recent key legislative and policy achievements across different regions, such as Colombia passing a law to end child marriage, the United States introducing a federal bill to protect girls, Sierra Leone passing a historic bill securing the future of its girls, and Malawi launching its national strategy to end child marriage, and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation and United Nations call for commitment to support millions of pregnant girls and young mothers in South Asia, contributed to the momentum of the movement to end child marriage.

At the reception event, participants reflected on the movement's achievements within their own unique contexts.

• Increased Awareness: There has been a reduction in child marriage rates and greater visibility of the issue, particularly due to the criminalization of CEMFU in several Asian countries. Additionally, increasing awareness at the community level has fostered shifts in attitudes and behaviors among important stakeholders. Participants also shared that more organisations are now working to end child marriage, with a notable rise in feminist organisations and comparatively increased funding momentum due to continual advocacy.
• Legislative and Policy changes: Stricter laws and intensified advocacy efforts have been crucial in ending child marriage, though participants emphasized the limitations of relying solely on criminal justice. They shared concerns over potential negative impacts, such as reduced access to abortion and health services for young girls and women and stressed the importance of a broader social justice framework. However, according to them, it’s an achievement that child marriage is increasingly included in global policy agendas, such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), alongside efforts to make the movement more girl- and youth-led.
• Rethinking Leadership Strategies: Girls and young leaders are actively advocating for change, challenging harmful norms, and highlighting impactful success stories. For example, Uganda’s Second Chance Education program has supported 130 marginalised girls affected by civil conflicts in Northern Uganda, providing them with access to education, ensuring retention, and fostering learning and progression. Similarly, the Second Chance Education and Vocational Learning Programme, targeting marginalized and disadvantaged women who have been unable to complete their education due to poverty, conflict, cultural norms, or other barriers, has been implemented in countries such as Mexico, Chile, India, Cameroon, Jordan, and Australia. Participants emphasised the importance of involving community gatekeepers and addressing root causes, which have shown significant promise. Additionally, initiatives engaging men and boys, such as Nepal’s gender-based violence (GBV) programs, have further strengthened efforts to create lasting social change.

The movement for women's and girls' rights continues to confront persistent challenges, such as the rise of organised anti-gender movements, Funding shortages persist despite increased interest in providing financial support and political instability.

Acknowledging these obstacles is important, but it is essential for the movement to remain strategic, focusing on advancing the rights of women and girls, rather than being consumed by reactions to anti-rights organising. In this context, participants shared insightful reflections on the specific challenges they face within their own countries and contexts.

• Organised Opposition: Mobilization of anti-gender and anti-rights movements, backlash from religious leaders, and laws designed to "control sexuality" of young girls and women are creating significant barriers in many countries. Political pushback and instability in several Asian countries further complicate progress on girls and women rights.
• Shrinking Civic Space: In many Asian countries, restrictive state policies, strict regulations on foreign funding, and a lack of local funding opportunities hinder the work of civil society organisations (CSOs). The misconception that child marriage has ended leads to reduced urgency, resulting in decreased funding and insufficient resources to sustain the movement.
• Lack of the recognition of ‘Intersectionality’: The failure to address the intersecting identities and vulnerabilities of girls—shaped by caste, class, sexuality, race, disability, and conflict zones—remains a critical issue. This further contributes to looking at issues in isolation and not how many other social-political-climate justice issues contribute to CEFMUFMEU. For instance, participants highlighted the loosely defined term “climate brides,” referring to how climate change exacerbates inequalities, leading to increased child marriage in some regions.

Child marriage is deeply rooted in traditional practices, requiring sustained efforts to transform norms and attitudes. Participants shared to scale localised successes into widespread change, a multifaceted and inclusive approach is essential.

• Amplify Diverse Voices: Raise awareness by prioritizing the voices of girls from intersectional marginalised contexts. Participants felt there is also value in meaningfully promoting storytelling and CEMFU survivor testimonies to humanise the issue and shift perceptions. In this regard, collaborating with parents, guardians, and broader communities has been and will continue to be effective. They also urged fostering youth-led initiatives and social norms change by emphasising the role of young leaders in advocacy.
• Funding Redistribution: Participants also asserted to map funding sources and ensure resources reach organizations with the most impact, including grassroots and youth-led initiatives. Flexible, long-term, and holistic grants should be accessible to young people and local organisations. Focus on girl-led and girl-centred initiatives while educating and involving child protection experts with an intersectional lens.
• Intersectional Feminist Advocacy: A member from Girls Not Brides’ National Partnership in Nepal, highlighted, marriage is often seen as a license for sex, a misconception that must be challenged. Marriage and sex should not be conflated. The feminist movement must continue to push for these critical conversations. Many participants also emphasised the need to address cross-cutting Issues, such as tackling climate change, education rights, sexual and reproductive health rights and justice, and other intersecting challenges that exacerbate child marriage.

Women and girls don’t live a single-issue life and advocacy around their rights must include their diverse identities and realities. This also calls for collaborative movement building as we continue working towards ending CEFMU.