From Girls Not Brides <[email protected]>
Subject #DearFutureMe: Letters to the future – and a call to action | VOICES, March 2025
Date March 31, 2025 4:33 PM
  Links have been removed from this email. Learn more in the FAQ.
  Links have been removed from this email. Learn more in the FAQ.
No images? Click here [link removed]

MARCH 2025 Translate this email [[link removed]]

Dear friend,

When girls speak, the world should listen.

Through the #DearFutureMe campaign [[link removed]] launched at CSW69, girls around the world are sharing powerful letters [[link removed]] to their future selves, of their dreams, ambitions and the futures they want to create. But many of these dreams won't come true if child marriage continues.

These letters are more than words – they're a call to action. We must ensure the voices of adolescent girls reach decision-making spaces, so they can shape the policies that impact their futures.

READ THE LETTERS [[link removed]] How can you support?

Write your own #DearFutureMe commitment to your future self and share it using our commitment image [[link removed]], tagging Girls Not Brides and Girls First Fund. Let's make sure their voices do not go unheard.

COMMIT TO A WORLD WITHOUT CHILD MARRIAGE [[link removed]] Where we were at CSW69 Dear Future Me: A World Where Girls Thrive

Inspired by the powerful new film Nawi, Girls Not Brides: The Global Partnership to End Child Marriage, Girls First Fund, Children's Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and Government of Canada convened a powerful panel and film screening. The event brought together champions, partners, activists, and allies to highlight solutions to end child marriage. The event featured letters from adolescent girls as part of the #DearFutureMe campaign, serving as a call-to-action for decision-makers.

FIND OUT MORE [[link removed]] Bridging the Gap: From Beijing to 2030, Ending Child Marriage in All Forms

This co-hosted event with the UNFPA-UNICEF Global Programme to End Child Marriage, Children's Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), Girls First Fund, Zonta International, Foreign, UK Commonwealth and Development Office, Governments of Canada, Zambia, the Dominican Republic and the Netherlands united survivors, activists, governments, and key partners to discuss how we can accelerate efforts to end child marriage globally.

Many governments, including the UK, Canada, Zambia, Malawi, Sierra Leone, the Netherlands, Nepal, Nigeria, Ghana, the Dominican Republic, Belize, Egypt and Guatemala reiterated their commitments to ending child marriage.

FIND OUT MORE [[link removed]] No Child Left a Bride: Successes & Setbacks in the Global Effort to End Child Marriage

With Unchained At Last, Clinton Global Initiative, Equality Now, NGO Committee on the Status of Women (NGO CSW/NY), UN Women, African Child Policy Forum (ACPF), the Government of Sierra Leone and the Government of the Dominican Republic, we co-hosted this compelling discussion exploring child marriage across global and US contexts, bringing together stakeholders to share successes and setbacks in our collective effort.

WATCH THE RECORDING [[link removed]] 📢 NEWS & UPDATES A Historic Victory for Women and Girls in Africa

The African Union has adopted the first legally binding continental instrument to address violence against women and girls – the African Union Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls. This landmark achievement is the result of years of advocacy by survivors, activists, civil society and policymakers. Girls Not Brides remains committed to working with partners to push for national adaptation and implementation.

Where Are We at with SDG Progress on Child Marriage in Asia?

The Asia and the Pacific SDG Progress Report launched for the 12th Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD) held in Bangkok, Thailand, from 25 to 28 February 2025 provides an overview of progress — or the lack thereof — on all 17 SDGs.

Data gaps, as indicated in the report, limit a comprehensive assessment of progress toward gender equality (Goal 5), particularly in addressing issues like violence against women and early marriage (SDG 5.3). Girls Not Brides actively participated in the forum, advocating for Child, Early, and Forced Marriage & Unions (CEFMU) and emphasising the importance of continued investment in young people, promoting generation of citizen-led data and youth-led research to fill data gaps, and partnerships with CSOs while speaking at a high-level panel discussion on the 'Summit of the Future', positioning CEFMU as a critical issue for sustainable development.

Additionally, in collaboration with Plan International, UNICEF South Asia, ChildFund Asia, WeMenView, and the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), Girls Not Brides co-organised a side event exploring the intersections between child marriage (SDG 5) and other SDGs under review (3, 4, 8, and 17).

MORE ABOUT THE SIDE EVENT [[link removed]] WATCH RECORDING OF HIGH-LEVEL PANEL [[link removed]] LEARN ABOUT SDG PROGRESS IN ASIA [[link removed]] Coping with Compound Crises: What Does This Mean for Child Marriage Interventions?

As the world faces multiple, interconnected crises – climate change, conflict, disease outbreaks, economic instability - decades of progress in ending child marriage are now under threat. Girls Not Brides, the University of Oxford and the University of Cape Town explore how these crises are increasing the risks for girls worldwide and discuss how child marriage interventions can remain effective in an increasingly uncertain world.

READ THE BLOG [[link removed]] 10 Years of Progress: the UN General Assembly’s 2024 Resolution on Child, Early and Forced Marriage

On 18 November 2024, the UN General Assembly Third Committee adopted by consensus the sixth Resolution on child, early and forced marriage. Co-led by Zambia and Canada and co-sponsored by 123 member states reflecting broad cross-regional support, it marks 10 years since the adoption of the first Resolution in 2014.

FIND OUT MORE [[link removed]] 📝 LEARNING & RESOURCES Join us for our next Research Meeting: Climate Change and Child Marriage

🗓️ 10 April 2025

⏲️ 7am Mexico City / 9am New York / 2pm London / 4pm Nairobi / 6.30pm New Delhi

📍 Online

🌐Simultaneous interpretation in English, French, Hindi, and Spanish.

Join us at our next CRANK research meeting exploring the interlinkages between climate change and child marriage. The event will bring together global experts to discuss emerging evidence, with research showing that for every 10% change in rainfall, child marriage increases by 1%. We will talk about practices and strategies to strengthen cross-sectoral interventions addressing child marriage in the face of climate crisis and explore links between child marriage, food insecurity and climate-induced displacement, and social protection, education, health and social norms.

FIND OUT MORE AND REGISTER [[link removed]] Webinar: Marriage - Who Decides?

🗓️ 2 April 2025

⏲️ 5 pm HKT (3am Mexico City / 5am New York / 10am London / 2.30pm New Delhi)

📍 Online

🌐Simultaneous interpretation in Cantonese.

Explore the realities of child marriage among Hong Kong’s ethnic minority communities in this free online webinar, organised by the Zubin Foundation, a Girls Not Brides member. During the session, you will learn about their recent research findings, hear personal stories from ethnic minority women, explore the role of parents in marriage decisions and explore available resources.

FIND OUT MORE AND REGISTER [[link removed]] Are you a young activist working on child marriage?

Plan International is inviting young activists/advocates working on child marriage to participate in a short survey about their experiences working on married girls’ rights. We would like to hear from activists/advocates aged 15-24 living in the following countries: Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Indonesia, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Togo, Uganda, Zambia.

The survey, available in multiple languages, will be hosted online and take around 30 minutes to complete. For more information, please contact the Project Lead at Plan International, Dr Keya Khandaker, at [[email protected]].

Follow us [[link removed]] Share [link removed] Tweet [link removed] Share [[link removed]] Forward [link removed]

Girls Not Brides

Seventh Floor, 65 Leadenhall Street

London EC3A 2AD

[[link removed]]

Unsubscribe [link removed]
Screenshot of the email generated on import

Message Analysis