Over the last decade, global calls to ban forced and child marriage have become more prominent, but with 28 girls still forced to wed every minute, the deadly practice persists. It endures through policy loopholes, cultural norms, and religious customs, and is driven by poverty and gender inequality. Ending the deadly practice requires a targeted effort from every level of society, from lawmakers to community leaders to everyday people. 

A decade of progress on the issue is thanks to coordinated advocacy and worldwide coalition building, as seen through the work of organizations like Unchained at Last, Girls Not Brides, the Tahirih Justice Center, and thousands more global, grassroots NGOs. In the U.S., states like Delaware, Minnesota, New York, Rhode Island, and New Jersey have passed laws raising the minimum marriage to 18 with no exceptions. Globally, countries like Malawi, Bangladesh, and Sierra Leone have also taken steps to ban the deadly practice in their countries. 

This is largely due to the growing mainstream awareness of forced marriage, which has helped legitimize the calls to action from local NGOs working directly with affected communities. 

Importance of Community-led Culture Shifts

“The universal experience of forced marriage is at the same time a very particularized experience for survivors in different communities,” said Alex Goyette, public policy manager at the Tahirih Justice Center. Founded in 1997, the Tahirih Justice Center is a national leader in advocating for the rights of immigrant women and girls at risk of violence, which includes child marriage.

Legislation alone often falls short of fully eradicating the practice, which is why community-led interventions can be a first, important step. In particular, family members, community leaders, philanthropists, and everyday people, can all play a critical role in shifting cultural norms or helping victims escape from forced marriage. 

For instance, the anti-child marriage organization Girls Not Brides identified the power of mobilizing families and communities as one of the core pillars behind its strategy to transform cultures more tolerant of gender inequality and child marriage. Examples of this kind of work include their collaborations with local grassroots organizations to drive community dialogues and explore creative mediums such as street theater and art to spark reflections on the impact of cultural norms and child marriage. The organization also runs training workshops called “Stand Up, Speak Out” with the goal of promoting youth-led community interventions to address child marriage concerns that most impact local youth. 

Plan International meanwhile highlights its work undertaken with entire communities to raise awareness and foster dialogues regarding the harmful consequences of gender inequality, including setting up “child protection committees” to prevent forced child marriage and facilitating so-called “child marriage-free zones” in which communities commit to ban child marriages, among other measures. In Syria, the female-led Syrian Family Planning Association, a United Nations Population Fund partner, organizes workshops on the the risks of child marriage while also seeking to empower young women and girls to pursue their education and enhance their economic independence. 

Policy and Legislation to Stop Child Marriage

In the U.S., the Tahirih Justice Center has informed state-level legislation aimed at preventing child marriage in many states through its Forced Marriage Initiative.

Community-level coalition building has been critical to maintaining momentum to ban the practice state by state in the U.S. for the organization. At the federal level, Tahirih has also been active in lobbying for federal reforms to immigration laws that allow for child brides to enter the under spousal visa petitions. “We’re fighting for the passage of the Child Marriage Prevention Act of 2024, which would close dangerous loopholes in immigration law that have allowed minors to be brought into the U.S. as child brides,” says Goyette. 

Fostering Everyday Advocacy

Everyday advocacy is critical to building public support for issues like child and forced marriage, which for many seem like very distant, far-away problems. With community-led interventions being vital to ending child marriage, it’s important to explore how various communities engage in advocacy that transcends geographical boundaries.

Goyette emphasizes that community-level engagement is critical to help identify and serve potential victims fleeing forced marriage. “Our model relies heavily on deep trust and partnership with local survivors and advocates across the country.” The organization also provides legal representation, social services, and emergency shelter to girls and women fleeing forced marriages, in addition to providing training to advocates across the U.S. 

“We also focus on empowering other advocates, both by training them directly and by making information broadly available to anyone who wants to pick up this issue and push their state to end child marriage,” adds Goyette. “Our legal team is currently representing several girls who are in danger of being taken abroad for marriage — there is still so much to be done to prevent this kind of abuse.” 

Your Wedding Can Help End Child Marriage

“We know that the solutions to ending child marriage are already in the communities,” says Clay Dunn, CEO of VOW for Girls. ”Our role is to amplify these efforts, to get resources into the hands of people on the frontlines of ending child marriage, and to ensure that girls have access to the opportunities they need to make decisions about their futures.” Launched in 2018, VOW for Girls supports 177 NGOs working at the community level to fight child marriage in six countries. 

Working within the mainstream events and wedding industry, VOW’s model invites couples to donate part of their wedding budgets to support the NGOs they partner with, connecting the personal celebrating the lives of women and girls impacted by child marriage. Dunn explains, “The wedding industry is a natural partner for us; as a celebration of love, we want to ensure that love is never forced.” Every dollar raised by the organization, adds Dunn, goes directly to grassroots organizations that work to stop the practice at every level. 

Wedding donations from individuals in the U.S. have helped support NGOs in communities in Uganda, India, and Nepal with the resources to delay child marriage through education, healthcare, and more. “We are driven by the belief that local leaders know best what their communities need,” adds Dunn. “We’re just here to provide support and resources.”

“Our goal is simple,” says Goyette. “We want to see every state in the U.S. enact laws that unequivocally ban marriage under 18. No exceptions, no loopholes.” He adds; “We’ve seen that legal change is possible when people come together and demand that the government do better for our girls.”

For Dunn, the VOW’s goal is also clear: “We’re building a global movement to ensure that no girl is forced into marriage. Every girl deserves the chance to write her own story.”