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About the Organization

Girls Not Brides is a global network of more than 1,500 civil society organisations from over 100 countries committed to ending child marriage. Girl Not Brides envisions a world without child marriage where girls and women enjoy equal status with boys and men and are able to achieve their full potential in all aspects of their lives.

The strength and passion of Girls Not Brides lies in their member organisations, who are based across Africa, Asia, Europe, the Americas and the Middle East. They work to end child marriage and make sure that all girls around the world can stay in school, stay healthy and have the futures they dream of.

In around 30 countries and states, Girls Not Brides members have decided to work collectively to accelerate progress to end child marriage in their countries or states by forming civil society coalitions. In 12 countries and states, they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding and become official Girls Not Brides National or State Partnerships. National Partnerships are those that operate across a country, while State Partnerships are those that operate at a sub-national level, often in decentralised or federalised systems such as India.

Girls Not Brides member organisations are supported by a secretariat based in London, Mexico City, Nairobi, and New Delhi. The secretariat works with member organisations and supporters to advance the knowledge base on child marriage, raise awareness of the issue, and campaign for legal and social change.

Girls Not Brides’ vision is a world without child marriage where girls and women enjoy equal status with boys and men and are able to achieve their full potential in all aspects of their lives.

(images provided by Girls Not Brides, illustrations by Marcela Quiroz)

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Every year 14 million girls are married as children, robbed of their childhood and opportunity for education.

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GNB unites global leaders and grassroots voices to end child marriage.

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Mabel van Oranje describes GNB as a movement that shares knowledge about what is working, and what is not.

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Ambition for Change

Girls Not Brides envisions a world without child marriage, where girls can exercise their rights and achieve their full potential.

Path to Scale

Girls Not Brides works as a global partnership to support members and national coalitions through advocacy, communications, and evidence-based solutions to end child marriage, and bring together new actors including governments, the United Nations, and civil society to build a strong ecosystem of partners working together to end the practice.

Skoll Awardee

Mabel van Oranje has been an advocate for freedom, justice, and development for two decades. She was the first CEO of The Elders and led the organization’s evolution into a credible force for peace-building, justice and human rights worldwide. She initiated Girls Not Brides (GNB) and chaired its board of trustees from 2008 to2012. Initially sponsored by The Elders as a membership organization, GNB unites global leaders and grassroots voices to end child marriage. Its member organizations range from the largest international NGOs to community based organizations, filling a void and building a movement, sharing experience and learning from each other. Mabel has been recognized for her leadership in many roles, including co-founder and executive chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations, board and advisory board roles for the Open Society Foundations, Crisis Action, Global Witness, and her roles in launching War Child, Publish What You Pay, Independent Commission on Turkey, and the International Criminal Court.

Impact & Accomplishments
  • To bring international visibility and leadership to a once taboo issue, Girls Not Brides has driven increased collective action to end child marriage through its global partnerships that have shaped new global and regional commitments, laws and policies, and increased funding and programming. Child marriage rates are declining globally, with a recent UNICEF report highlighting that 25 million child marriages were averted in the last decade.
  • Through collective advocacy at the global and national level, Girls Not Brides influenced the decision to include Target 5.3 in the post-2015 SDGs, committing 193 governments around the world to ending child marriage by 2030. Girls Not Brides has coordinated and supported input from civil society on a series of substantive resolutions at the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council and the UN General Assembly, and supported national-level member organisations to advocate directly with their governments. Neither UN body had drafted a resolution on child marriage prior to 2013.
  • More than 40 countries now have or are developing national action plans to end child marriage, and many have also taken steps to strengthen their laws to address child marriage. Girls Not Brides member organisations have been instrumental in working with governments on these developments, and in pushing for coordinated implementation and financing across government ministries. A checklist developed by Girls Not Brides to analyse national strategies to end child marriage has been cited by multiple governments – including Ghana, Lebanon and Nigeria – as being an important resource in this process.
  • In 2014, the governments of 28 countries supported the African Union (AU) Campaign to End Child Marriage. Since then, the campaign has grown in scope and deepened its focus on addressing the gender and power inequalities that perpetuate child marriage. It has already led to laws and strategies in Southern and West Africa and Girls Not Brides worked with the AU on new plans, drawing on their experience as a dynamic Partnership to focus on coordination and collaboration across sectors and between state and non-state actors.
  • In Asia, Girls Not Brides provided technical input to the SAIEVAC, an apex body of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation. Girls Not Brides drafted a concept note for a SAIEVAC-organised national consultation on ending child marriage in India in 2018, and supported the participation of member organisations.
  • Over the last three years, Girls Not Brides has stepped up its work in Latin America and the Caribbean, where progress to end child marriage has been slowest. It launched its Spanish language website and used platforms like global conferences – including the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD25), Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), and Women Deliver – to raise awareness and advocate for action on child marriage in the region. Seven governments in LAC have since committed to addressing the issue. Child marriage is now on the region’s gender equality agenda, and SDG Target 5.3 on ending child marriage is formally included as an indicator in the Economic Commission for LAC’s Gender Equality Observatory.
  • Girls Not Brides have been at the forefront of innovative initiatives to generate funding to the field of addressing child marriage. Recognising that grassroots organisations play a crucial role in ending child marriage but are often underfunded, Girls Not Brides was one of the driving forces behind the Girls First Fund, a new multi-donor initiative to support community-based organisations working to end child marriage around the world, which has pledges of over $45 million and awarded its first round of grants in 2019. Sitting on its board committee, Girls Not Brides provides technical expertise and ensures that the interests of civil society organisations are included in all aspects of the fund’s work. Girls Not Brides has also played a catalytic role in the creation of ‘VOW’, an innovative fundraising initiative which leverages the multi-billion dollar US wedding industry to support the Girls First Fund and provides a new model for building global solidarity around a development issue.
  • Girls Not Brides recently established the Child Marriage Research to Action Network (CRANK), a joint initiative with the UNFPA-UNICEF Global Programme to End Child Marriage, which brings together leading global researchers and organisations working on child marriage learning and evidence to ensure that the research community is aligned, responds to gaps in knowledge and is connected with practitioners so that new evidence can be taken forward in policy and practice.
Affiliated
Kate Whittington-Smith
Head of Development and Outreach, Girls Not Brides
Faith Mwangi-Powell
Chief Executive Officer, Girls Not Brides
Michelle Wisson
Donor Engagement Manager, Girls Not Brides
In the News
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