Dear friend
I want to take this moment as we come towards the end of 2021, to thank you so much for your continued support and dedication to secure a better future for girls everywhere. Despite the many challenges we have faced this year, 2021 has been a year of working hard together on our mission to end child marriage.
COVID-19 continues to affect all our lives and bring greater risk to girls and the communities we work with. However, when I look back at what we have achieved despite the pandemic, I am very proud and applaud the achievements of all members of our global partnership. I am sure you all have great stories and successes to share. When I reflect across the movement the few highlights which stand-out for me are:
In Tanzania, pregnant girls will now be able to re-enter school as young mothers, an issue that the Girls Not Brides coalition in Tanzania has campaigned on for many years. We celebrated formalising our newest National Partnership in Kenya and we are looking forward to completing a similar process in Guatemala very soon. We also continued to strengthen and build coalitions in many more countries across the world. Girls Not Brides UK celebrated a significant step towards closing a legal loophole that allows child marriage under 18 in England and Wales, thanks to a second reading of the marriage and civil partnership (minimum age) bill in November. Globally, the Power to Girls campaign [[link removed]] we launched in September brought so many of us together around a single ask: ensuring girls have the power to decide their futures. We are thrilled to see campaign commitments from high-level decision-makers, activists and member organisations already, and national campaigns rolling out in 11 countries. The Girls Not Brides Uttar Pradesh State Partnership in India trained 2,150 adolescent girls from 20 districts on two social welfare schemes to enhance their access to sexual and reproductive health services and support their higher education, which cascaded to over more 22,000 girls across the districts.
As a Partnership, we celebrated our 10th anniversary and a decade of progress in ending child marriage. We also bid a fond farewell to our long-serving Board Chair, Mabel van Oranje [[link removed]], and welcomed our new Board Chair Dr Anne Gallagher AO [[link removed]], and three new board members from Africa, Asia and Latin America.
The progress we have made shows that even in challenging times, we are able to move forward. Supporters like you, who make up the movement to end child marriage, are essential to that progress.
Looking to next year, I am delighted to share that we’ve finalised our new Partnership Strategy for 2022-2025. The centrepiece of this strategy is a focus on accelerated collective action to end child marriage. I can’t wait to share it with you in January.
What has really come home for me this year is that the future success of the movement to end child marriage lies in you. It lies in the hundreds of individuals, activists and leaders from communities all over the world building and contributing to a growing movement. Without you and your support, change in girls’ lives would not be possible.
Thank you again – I wish you a restful and peaceful end to 2021, and look forward to continuing our mission, refreshed and reinvigorated, in 2022.
In solidarity,
Faith
Dr Faith Mwangi-Powell
CEO
Girls Not Brides: The Global Partnership to End Child Marriage
Further reading
Power to Girls: [[link removed]] Our global campaign is urging decision makers to take immediate action to end child marriage. You can still support into 2022!
Decade of Progress Report: [[link removed]] Did you miss our report looking at the progress we’ve made across the movement to end child marriage in the last 10 years? It gives insights into the steps we have taken forward, and how we can accelerate change over the next decade.
Q&A with our new Board Chair [[link removed]]: Meet Dr Anne Gallagher AO, who took up the role of our Board Chair in July 2021.
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