Today marks the fifth anniversary of International Day of the Girl Child. Declared an international observance day in 2012 by the United Nations, it marks an annual celebration of girls across the globe, and reminds us of the barriers they face and the challenges they must overcome: gender inequality, gender-based violence, and child marriage.
At Girls Not Brides, we are celebrating the work of the amazing individuals who are working to end child marriage around the world and support the rights of girls everywhere. From Zimbabwe, to India, to the USA, Honduras and everywhere in between, change-makers are vital in the campaign to end child marriage. Angeline is one of those change-makers, click here to read more.
Other change-makers that we are highlighting today are The Hon. Jessie Majome a change-maker in Zimbabwe and Kriti Bharti: change-maker in India
Recently, we launched IT TAKES A MOVEMENT which looks at the progress made towards ending child marriage over the past 5 years. What is clear from the report is that there have been a lot of successes towards achieving that goal over the last few years but there are still many challenges ahead. It has taken a movement made up of civil society, policy-makers, communities, parliamentarians and many others to make that change happen and over the next 5 years that movement can achieve even greater things!
Also, with help from our members, Kate Wittington from the Learning Team at Girls Not Brides has written a short piece on the 8 insights to end child marriage. Feel free to take a look!
Be sure to follow our updates throughout the day on Twitter, following the hashtags #IDG2016 and #ItTakesAMovement, and use your voice to amplify the message to end child marriage on International Day of the Girl 2016!
Happy International Day of the Girl Child!
From the Girls Not Brides team