New insights, partners ánd friends during Her Choice event

A bit sad, but full of hope for the future, we look back on the three days we spend together during the online event ‘5 years Her Choice: beating the drum for child marriage-free communities!’. During this event, we looked back on 5 years of the Her Choice programme, together with all 30 local partners from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Benin, Uganda, Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal, Ethiopia and Ghana. Participants gained new insights, practices, partners ánd friends. 

During the event there were workshops about promoting girls education, lobby and advocacy, the role of teachers in CSE, empowering girls through life skills, economic security for girls and families, mobilising and supporting communities, legal and policy environment, youth-friendly health services, youth-led research and much more. Also, Her Choice research partner the University of Amsterdam presented its findings and conclusions of the Endline Study. Boys and girls that were engaged in the Her Choice programme, also participated in a special boys and girls session ‘Change makers of the future: youth-led session’. Because, in the end, the Her Choice programme revolved about them. After all, théy are the change makers of the future.

The Her Choice event in images

Every day, influential change makers from the local communities like teachers, religious leaders, parents and the girls themselves, started with an opening statement in which they addressed the audience. Partner organisations also had the chance to show their results and experiences during the programme and shared some impressive videos. Examples are the videos of Her Choice partner Bedari from Pakistan, Her Choice partners from Senegal,  Her Choice partner CWIN from Nepal and Her Choice partners from Burkina Faso.

As it is impossible to summarise everything, here is an overview of the Her Choice event in images:

 

My Choice video

The last five years, Her Choice has worked hard to end child marriage, together with girls and boys, their families, ánd their communities. Now the Her Choice programme comes to an end, théy are telling the story of five years of Her Choice in this special video.

We firmly believe that all trained change makers will continue to make sustainable impact in their communities. So that these girls and boys, also after Her Choice, can choose if, when and whom to marry. Still, every year 12 million girls are married before the age of 18. So let’s all continue our efforts to empower girls so that they can help build a future free of child marriage!