“When I finish school I want to be a doctor. 10 years from now I’ll be able to help my country.”
Mirriam
Mirriam is a 17-year-old who, like any other teenager, has ambitions and dreams. She wants to become a doctor. However, where Mirriam lives, child marriage and poverty threaten her chances of getting the education she needs and the future she dreams of.
Together: Ending Child Marriage in Zambia is a short documentary that asks what can be done to enable girls like Mirriam to avoid child marriage and fulfil their potential.
It tells the story of partnership, of how civil society activists, girls, traditional leaders, and the government are coming together to make sure that no girl is married as a child.
If a movement can gain momentum in a country where rates of early marriage are among the highest in the world, then perhaps we can pave the way for change not only in Zambia but far beyond.
Together: Ending Child Marriage in Zambia shows how by working in partnership we can put an end to child marriage in one generation, and ensure that every girl, like Mirriam, can have a bright future.
This film features the work of Girls Not Brides members in Zambia including the Forum for African Women Educationalists Zambia (FAWEZA), Population Council and YWCA Zambia.
About child marriage
Child marriage isn’t just about a wedding day; it holds girls back for the rest of their lives. It means that girls usually drop out of school and soon start a family. It denies them the opportunities that would create a better life for them and their family. It prevents them from contributing to their communities.
- Every year 15 million girls worldwide are married under the age of 18.
- In Zambia, it is estimated that almost two in every five Zambian girls are married as children.
- If there is no reduction in child marriage, 1.2 billion girls will marry as children by 2050 - equivalent to the entire population of India.
Ending child marriage: The actors of change
Meet the people behind the movement to end child marriage in Zambia!
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