Creating a Brighter Future

means we need to:

Ensure girls have the time and space they need to develop their own goals and individuality before becoming part of a union.

Equip girls with the life skills, maturity, and knowledge they need to build the foundation for a happy and healthy marriage in their future.

Engage girls, boys, parents, and other adults to design and carry out activities they need to improve their lives.

With the threat of an estimated 100 million child marriages over the next decade, governments and civil society organizations are beginning to recognize how it undermines social and economic development, and violates the girls' human rights.

Many are starting to intensify efforts and forge partnerships to address child marriage through a broad range of policy and programmatic responses.

These responses range from providing girls with more access to education, resources and skills-training to help delay marriage, to creating economic opportunities, such as microfinance initiatives and other income-generating projects. Awareness programs on the adverse implications of child marriage have been launched by both governments and development agencies. And legislatures are passing laws to prosecute violators of child marriage laws.

More actions need to be taken to respond to the social and economic underpinnings of child marriage to effectively reduce its incidence.