Dear friend,

When girls speak, the world should listen. 

Through the #DearFutureMe campaign launched at CSW69, girls around the world are sharing powerful letters 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. 

How can you support? 

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

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.

Bridging the Gap: From Beijing to 2030, Ending Child Marriage in All Forms

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.

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. 

📢 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).  

Coping with Compound Crises: What Does This Mean for Child Marriage Interventions?

10 Years of Progress: the UN General Assembly’s 2024 Resolution on Child, Early and Forced Marriage

📝 LEARNING & RESOURCES

Join us for our next Research Meeting: Climate Change and Child Marriage

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.

Webinar: Marriage - Who Decides?

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. 

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].

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