Meet some of our new members for 2024

Nosotras para Ellas, A.C.
Mexico

Nosotras para Ellas, A.C. is a women-led national organisation dedicated to the prevention and eradication of gender-based violence in Mexico. 

Alsama
Lebanon

Alsama is a community-based, women-led organisation which sets up schools, sports hubs and social enterprises in Lebanon’s refugee camps and works to end child marriage through education, community outreach, and psycho-social support.

Rural Women Peace Link Kenya

Rural Women Peace Link mobilise, influence and promote the participation of grassroots women, youth, and marginalised groups in peacebuilding, community governance and development through partnerships, collaboration and networking.

Baliga Trust
India

Baliga Trust works with marginalised and disadvantaged groups to promote women's empowerment, education, livelihood, child rights and protection, health and sanitation, with a vision of an egalitarian society for all.

The Girls Not Brides Secretariat is the backbone to this vibrant partnership, coordinating, supporting and sustaining our members to be better connected and equipped to drive change. Our members consistently highlight the value of being part of the global partnership, with our 2024 membership survey revealing that:

of members surveyed had viewed or read a learning product at least once. Of these,

have applied the Girls Not Brides learning product(s) to their work.

*209 members surveyed.

“This membership has helped us to access child marriage-related global resources and increased our visibility among national stakeholders as well as recognition at the local level.”

“The funding resources shared by Girls Not Brides have been immensely helpful to our organisation. Through these resources, we have successfully secured five grants, which have significantly contributed to advancing our work to end child marriage.”

“The materials, such as infographics, reports, and videos, are clear, well-researched, and practical, enabling us to tailor our programming to address the unique challenges in Dzaleka Refugee Camp.”

“Every meeting or webinar that I've engaged in, Girls Not Brides has become a stepping stone towards making positive impact in our community.”

Supporting capacity and governance of National and State Partnerships / coalitions

Ensuring partnerships and coalitions have effective governance structures and robust processes and reporting is a fundamental part of what we do. In 2024 we supported Girls Not Brides Malawi and Girls Not Brides Uganda with their governance structures and Annual General Meetings, paving the way for enhanced accountability, decision-making and further intensive work across the two countries.

“It has been a fruitful session. As a youth I have been able to understand some key pillars that enhance the smooth running of an organisation. Safeguarding, monitoring, and evaluation skills, for instance, have enlightened me on loopholes within my organisation.”  
- Member, Girls Not Brides Kenya.

In Mozambique, Guatemala, Tanzania, Kenya, Jharkhand and Rajasthan, we provided monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEAL) support, including guidance in MEAL fundamentals, log-frame development, and multi-year work planning. In Mozambique, we provided member-led safeguarding training for 24 national coalition members, while facilitating access to external safeguarding training for the steering committees of the National Partnerships in Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda. In Guatemala, monthly financial support led to a positive external audit report for the National Partnership’s project.

Investing in leadership for lasting change

Ending child marriage requires dedicated and well-resourced leaders at all levels. Our 2024 Movement Building and Advocacy Leadership Programme (MBALP) was attended by leaders from 13 National or State Partnerships in Africa and Asia. The nine-month training programme supported participants to develop critical skills ensuring a network of leaders across countries that can continue to learn and support each other.

“The Movement Building and Advocacy Leadership Programme was an asset for us. Now we can involve all civil society and government institutions in advocating for girls’ rights and ending child marriages.”

Co-creating and implementing a common advocacy agenda

Working alongside National and State Partnerships and coalitions, we support the co-creation of strategies and advocacy plans to end child marriage, working with traditional leaders, government representatives, and community-based organisations. We supported Girls Not Brides Malawi to work with the government on the new National Strategy to End Child Marriage, which launched in October 2024. In Mozambique, the Girls Not Brides Secretariat supported Coligação para Eliminação dos Casamentos Prematuros (CECAP) to achieve national-level change through strengthening their engagement with government representatives, donor agencies, and other critical partners.

We influenced stronger political commitments and increased funding to end child marriage

Even in the face of shrinking civic space, stronger cross-border anti-rights groups, and political and economic pressures, we saw renewed commitments to end child marriage from critical powerholders and decision-makers. We created collaborative spaces at critical moments to bring together civil society, governments, donors and allies, and created opportunities to shape and drive action and investment into ending child marriage.

After significant advocacy efforts, including a joint statement submitted by Girls Not Brides and 124 member organisations, child, early and forced marriage was explicitly recognised as a violation of girls’ and young women’s human rights in the UN Pact for the Future. This reaffirmed international resolve to end child marriage, echoed in the 2024 UNGA Child Early and Forced Marriage Resolution. The Resolution, supported through formal and informal influencing at the UN General Assembly and beyond by Girls Not Brides and its members, was adopted by consensus in November 2024 with 123 country co-sponsors.

Together with Global Affairs Canada, we convened the annual Strategic Donor Meeting with 50 participants from funders and strategic partners to connect, re-energise, and re-commit to accelerating an end to child marriage. Conversations like these are integral to building community and consensus around the importance of protecting and increasing investments to end child marriage. 2024 saw the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) along with Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) announce multi-million-pound investments towards ending child marriage and advancing the rights of adolescent girls.

In Africa, we worked closely with governments at both the Africa Union and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Parliamentary Forum to ensure renewed commitments to addressing child marriage.

In Asia, we led the Technical Working Group on Child Marriage as part of the South Asia Civil Society Group, overseeing the review of the South Asia Regional Action Plan.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, we influenced a position statement at the 57th session on the Commission on Population and Development (CPD), emphasising the importance of advancing SRHR to addressing child marriage and early unions, and ensuring the practice was successfully integrated into the regional civil society declaration.

We actively engage other sectors to ensure that ending child marriage is prioritised across all areas of policy and practice

Child marriage is driven by multiple, interconnected factors, so our influencing work spans related sectors such as education, health and climate. This approach helps build a broader, more coordinated response, ensuring holistic and multisectoral strategies to end child marriage.

In 2024, Girls Not Brides worked with Human Rights Watch and other partners to advocate for a new Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, recognising the right to early childhood education and to guarantee free secondary education. We supported representatives from our National Partnership in Ghana, as well as GAMCOTRAP in The Gambia, to advocate for the Optional Protocol’s establishment at the Human Rights Council in Geneva. This helped to establish an intergovernmental working group and early co-sponsorship from both countries, demonstrating strong regional leadership and civil society influence in advancing girls’ rights through education.

Our Education Out Loud project in Francophone West Africa, made possible by the Global Partnership for Education’s fund for advocacy and social accountability, entered its second phase, bringing together end child marriage and education networks to shape policy and research through a shared agenda. In 2024, we supported youth activists to carry out research and advocacy, sponsoring one youth researcher from Niger to participate in the Gender is my Agenda Campaign (GIMAC) network Pre-Summit Consultative Meeting to the African Union Assembly of Heads of State and Government. Best practices from this project were shared through a practical 10-step guide to support other organisations to effectively conduct youth-led research.

We amplify our members’ expertise and power on global and regional platforms

Local and national civil society organisations hold deep knowledge on what works to end child marriage and are critical to driving change in families, communities, and countries. We platform their voices, facilitate direct connections to influence those in power, and continue to advocate for the crucial role civil society plays in bringing about change with, and for, girls.

In 2024, we stood alongside powerful Gambian advocates calling on the government to uphold the ban on Female Genital Mutilation and Cutting (FGM/C) – an issue strongly linked to child marriage, including at the African Union Pan-African Conference on Girls’ and Women’s Education and at the 56th Human Rights Council. We supported Dr. Isatou Touray from our member organisation GAMCOTRAP to deliver a powerful intervention, to speak at our co-hosted side event on cross-border FGM/C and to meet with the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women and Girls. Our advocacy efforts were critical in drawing international attention and pressure, contributing to the upholding of the FGM/C ban—a major win for girls’ rights.   

At the 2024 Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) conference, we joined forces with Girls First Fund and the UNICEF-UNFPA Global Programme to End Child Marriage to co-host an evening reception for our members, key allies, partners and donors to position child marriage as a critical gender justice issue. We sponsored five members from India, Bangladesh and Nepal to attend, and advocated with them for long-term flexible funding, increased partnerships with women-led organisations and centring of adolescent girls.

Movement Maker Series

Through storytelling and campaigns, we amplified the voices, expertise, and impact of our members to demonstrate the power of civil society actors driving change. Our #MovementMakers series showcased the powerful personal stories of civil society leaders across eight countries in Africa and Asia, inspiring the next generation of changemakers. The videos had a combined 2,500 views on YouTube and our 56 social media posts reached over 44,000 people. Our social media toolkits provide common messaging and graphics for our collective advocacy with our members. For example, for the International Day of Education, our toolkit of 12 graphics across three languages resulted in over 65 members' posts and reached over 282,000 people on our own platforms.

We generate, use, and share the latest evidence to drive informed action

Throughout 2024, we strengthened our role as a global thought leader on what works to end child marriage. We shared learning and insights at key global platforms, including the Sexual Violence Research Initiative Forum in Cape Town and our Strategic Donor Meeting in London, equipping donors, decision makers and strategic partners with the insights they need to address the root causes of child marriage.

Child marriage in conflict and crisis affected settings

Our global report, launched at a public seminar on Girls’ Rights in War and Conflict in Sweden, highlights the drivers and consequences of child marriage in conflict and crisis affected contexts, where prevalence is twice the global average. It shares promising practices, evidence, and tools for action and calls for a fundamental shift in programming approaches, urging local, national, and international actors to prioritise the needs of girls.

Updating the ‘Child Marriage Atlas’

In 2024, we completed a comprehensive update of our Child Marriage Atlas, the most viewed area of our website and a critical engagement entry point for audiences. We updated all 203 country profiles with the latest prevalence data, laws and policies, contextual drivers, and current efforts to address child marriage. The Atlas continues to be a vital tool for researchers, advocates and educators. It is used by the University of Nottingham to inform teaching on child marriage law and was cited in a civil society report on girls’ rights for the Beijing+30 Review in the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) region.  

Filling data gaps on child marriage in the Horn of Africa

Through a rigorous literature review, we mapped interventions and organisations addressing child, early, and forced marriage across the Horn of Africa. This review fills a critical regional data gap, offering insights into community efforts and the social and cultural factors driving child marriage, providing a key resource for those working to protect girls’ rights in the region.

Building inter-sectoral collaboration with a brief on child marriage and SDGs in India

Offering insights to address the root causes of child marriage, our report gained a total of 13,798 impressions, 3,790 engagements, and an engagement rate of 13.16% - highlighting a remarkable uptake by key organisations and stakeholders in the region.

We strengthen the coordination and uptake of research and evidence

We play a pivotal role in ensuring research and evidence to address child marriage is accessible, aligned, and used to inform action at global, regional and national levels. In 2024 we deepened collaboration with leading research partners including the UNFPA-UNICEF Global Programme to End Child Marriage, UNICEF Innocenti, University College London, World Health Organization, Accelerate Hub, the MENA Regional Action Forum To End Child Marriage, and the Sexuality Working Group, amongst others, to align our research priorities and fill knowledge gaps to end child marriage.

The CRANK

The Child Marriage Research to Action Network (The CRANK), our joint initiative with the UNFPA-UNICEF Global Programme to End Child Marriage, continues to build on its strong record as an effective coordinator of global child marriage research. We disseminated the latest priority analysis among its 570 engaged cross-regional members and facilitated the uptake of this evidence to strengthen programme, advocacy, and policy outcomes.                                

“I think (The CRANK) is a very effective network – the tracker, the research meeting and research spotlights really help facilitate a global space to share the latest evidence on child marriage, because they allow interaction, discussion, and help build networks. The research tracker and evidence reviews and other online resources really support accessing specific evidence when you need it.”
- Quote provided by CRANK member as part of the SIDA Evaluation Survey.

New focus on child marriage and mental health

In collaboration with University College London and the Global Network on Mental Health and Child Marriage, the CRANK hosted a symposium with over 200 stakeholders to explore the relationship between child marriage and mental health.

Emerging evidence shows that girls who are or have been married experience a range of poor mental outcomes - from anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation - but that support services are limited and poorly resourced.

The event helped put this issue on the global agenda, resulting in a joint comment in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health -Mental health consequences of child marriage, and a forthcoming special issue in the Journal of Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies. Initial recommendations call for safe spaces, community-led support, and systems-level responses to improve care for girls who are or have been married.

We support our members to apply evidence and learning to strengthen their impact

Building the skills, knowledge, and leadership needed to collectively address child marriage is a key component of our learning offer to members. In 2024, we held four webinars, five training sessions, and published a suite of 20 learning briefs, toolkits and reports.

Here’s what our members say about our learning work:

70% of members surveyed have accessed one learning product in the last year.

(209 surveyed members)

79% are satisfied with our learning products, as highly relevant, timely and practical​, well-researched, data-driven, expert-backed, introducing new ideas and challenging existing approaches which ultimately support organisations and communities to address child marriage​.

“The resources, such as CRANK research meetings, thematic briefs, and webinars, have been insightful and directly applicable to our work. They have enhanced our understanding of child marriage issues and provided practical tools for advocacy and programme development.”
- Girls Not Brides member.

“I leave satisfied knowing that I can see all the work we did in the virtual sessions reflected in the tool, and that it will allow us to evaluate our work from the gender-transformative perspective. Thank you, Girls Not Brides, for facilitating these spaces.”
- Girls Not Brides member, México.