Ending Child Marriage: Key Takeaways from the 69th Commission on the Status of Women
Drastic funding cuts and shrinking civil society spaces threaten the advancement of gender equality, the rights of adolescent girls and in ending child marriage. Despite these challenges, civil society, Governments, donors, and key partners, gathered in solidarity to reaffirm commitments and coordinated action.
The 69th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69) convened during a time when efforts to advance gender equality face increasing threats. Drastic funding cuts and shrinking civil society spaces threaten the advancement of gender equality, the rights of adolescent girls and in ending child marriage. Despite these challenges, civil society, Governments, donors, and key partners, gathered in solidarity to reaffirm commitments and coordinated action. With several Girls Not Brides Secretariat staff and members in attendance, here are our 3 key takeaways from this space.
1. Grassroot movements and activists are critical partners for change
Civil society is leading the way in ending child marriage and advancing adolescent girls' rights. Grassroots and community-based organisations know their context, know their community, and innovate solutions every day. When civil society comes together and act on a shared agenda, they have the power to make real change so that adolescent girls can fulfil their potential.
Grassroots leaders and activists at Dear Future Me: A World Where Girls Thrive
Girls Not Brides co-hosted the event “Dear Future Me: A World Where Girls Thrive” with Girls First Fund, Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and Global Affairs Canada to centre leading voices in the work to end child marriage, including grassroots leaders, storytellers and activists. Framed around the film Nawi, panellists shared personal narratives on the impacts of child marriage on their community and in their country.
Child marriage is a topic no one wants to talk about. It's always swept under the carpet, and it was really bothering me... I had a close friend of mine who was abducted from the market... and each person I tried to talk to about what had happened seemed not to be bothered. Everybody was just okay with it. And I was like, why are you guys taking this casually? This is a girl, she’s a child, she has so many dreams, dreams that have been shattered, her future has been robbed.
Milcah Cherotich, Nawi writer
When you talk about child marriage, when you talk about female genital mutilation, when you talk about teenage pregnancies, at times it sounds like it’s a storytelling conversation, but it’s a reality. There is a girl somewhere today who was married off...One of the things I have come to learn is true impact takes time. It is not easy. Today, you’re 9 years old, in the next 10 years you are going to be 19. What happens if somebody doesn’t get to invest on you today?
Wanjiru Wahome, Samburu Girls Foundation and Girls Not Brides Kenya
For me the real issue of child marriage is not about the custom. It's really about the control that comes with what the institution really does to the life of adolescents… What we are really looking at is that the issue of rights shouldn't be a dream anymore. It should be a reality that we dreamt of. And I think today, and that perhaps we need to look at that. How do you really make this reality so that next year when we're sitting here, we're looking at gender equality as being a reality that we've achieved, not a dream that we're chasing.
Prabhleen Tuteja, The YP Foundation
My sisters, two of them were sold into marriage at under 18, and they always came with bruises on their faces. I didn't want to be that. So, I stood up against my mother who I loved, and I love the most and I said no, because I care for my dreams… Girls shouldn't be forced to be wives. They can be doctors, they can be lawyers, they can be engineers. And most of the world problems that we face today, girls are the solution for those problems. So please invest in girls.
Sonita Alizadeh, rapper and activist
2. Centring adolescent girls and survivors to shift perspectives
In “global” spaces like CSW, it is too often that conversations about adolescent girls and child marriage survivors happen without them in the room. Their voices are not “nice-to-have”, but critical in shaping narratives and solutions.
Survivors must be at the forefront of shaping and implementing solutions to end child marriage. There is a critical need to fund community-led movements as they are best positioned to drive meaningful change.
Loveness Mudzuru, Rozaria Memorial Trust speaking at Bridging the Gap: From Beijing to 2030 – Ending Child Marriage in All Forms
True progress towards ending child marriage depends on sharing power, not just space. This means co-creating solutions, amplifying lived experience, and investing in adolescent girls’ leadership.
Adolescent girls and young women leading the way
The launch of Power4Girls, co-hosted by UNICEF and Purposeful was at the heart of CSW69, with an inspiring call to action to address with urgency the barriers faced by adolescent girls. A key message throughout the event was that adolescent girls are not waiting to be empowered, but are already leading, organising, and demanding change. Plan International partnered with adolescent girls and young women to launch Stories from the Future, a collection of short stories that share their vision for their future. Adolescent Girls Investment Plan (AGIP) hosted a multi-stakeholder conversation calling for more girl-centred commitments, more investment in adolescent girls and girl-led organisations, and more meaningful inclusion and accountability with and for adolescent girls.
Launch of the #DearFutureMe campaign
To ensure the voices of adolescent girls were heard loudly in the room, Girls Not Brides and Girls First Fund launched the #DearFutureMe campaign. Supported by Girls Not Brides members and Girls First Fund partner grassroots organisations, adolescent girls have written letters to their future selves, expressing their dreams and hopes for a future free from child marriage. These letters are not just messages of hope – they are a call to action to make a commitment back to adolescent girls to ensure adolescent girls are able to fulfil their dreams.
3. Political and financial commitments are crucial and must keep translating into action
At CSW69, we heard renewed promises from governments, donors, and multilaterals to accelerate progress on ending child marriage. These commitments are not just words – they represent hope for the those working tirelessly to end child marriage, advance girls’ rights, and advance gender equality, in a time when we are deeply in need of hope.
Bridging the Gap: From Beijing to 2030 – Ending Child Marriage in All Forms
Girls Not Brides, together with the UNFPA- UNICEF Global Programme to End Child Marriage, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), Girls First Fund, Zonta International, and the Governments of Canada, the United Kingdom, Zambia, the Dominican Republic and the Netherlands, co-hosted an event on “Bridging the Gap: from Beijing to 2030, Ending Child Marriage in All Forms”.
The event centred survivors’ voices and was an important space for governments and donors to learn from their experiences, as well as renew their commitment to end child marriage, in their contexts and globally. Our CEO, Dr Faith Mwangi-Powell called on governments to step up and maintain support for girls' rights despite recent funding cuts. She recognised recent wins in Malawi and Sierra Leone as proof that political will makes a difference.
It was encouraging to hear governments like the UK, Canada, Zambia, Malawi, Sierra Leone, the Netherlands, Nepal, Nigeria, Ghana, the Dominican Republic, Belize, Egypt and Guatemala reiterate their commitments to ending child marriage. Canada and Zambia additionally stressed the importance of collective action as joint penholders for the UN General Assembly CEFM Resolution, highlighting their work to bring governments together around shared commitments.
Speakers panel at Bridging the Gap event, SCW69, New York, 11 March 2025
Looking ahead
The message from adolescent girls and civil society was loud and clear – ending child marriage and advancing the rights of adolescent girls is urgent, critical, and must be a priority for all.
Commitments are only as strong as the actions that follow. Commitment must be turned into tangible progress. Every pledge must mean real-world impact for adolescent girls.
At Girls Not Brides, we remain committed to working with our members and partners around the world to ensure that every girl, everywhere, can choose if, when and whom to marry — and shape her own future.
Because dreams should never have barriers — and neither should girls’ futures.
In the time it has taken to read this article 83 girls under the age of 18 have been married
Each year, 12 million girls are married before the age of 18
That is 23 girls every minute
Nearly 1 every 2 seconds