Addressing child marriage requires a gender-transformative approach to programming and policymaking. This involves implementing programmes within communities to rebalance power by transforming social norms, redistributing resources, enabling access to quality basic services, and building agency for those facing gender-based discrimination. Such community-level and women-led efforts, if supported by multi-sectoral, evidence-informed, and well-resourced legal and policy responses, can drive the transformational social change needed to address child marriage.
This guidance note explores the strategies adopted by women-led organisations in South Asia to combat child marriage, examines their resource base, and identifies promising practices in eliminating child marriage amidst a shrinking civic space across the region.
Jointly developed by UNICEF ROSA and Girls Not Brides, this publication highlights the value of partnering with women-led organisations beyond standalone projects towards holistic, multi-sectoral alliances, including with non-governmental and civil society organisations, UN agencies, governments, donors, and academia, grounded in shared feminist principles to eliminate child marriage in South Asia.