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Founded in 2015, the More than Brides Alliance (MTBA) brings together the collective skills and experience of over 25 partner national organisations in collaboration with international organisations: Save the Children Netherlands, Oxfam Novib, Population Council and Simavi. The alliance builds on implementation and research experience across contexts where girls (aged 10-19) are most at risk of Child Marriage and face the biggest hurdles in making their own life choices. Our focus countries are Mali, Niger, Ethiopia, Malawi, Uganda, Pakistan, India, Nepal and Bangladesh.

Together, we share knowledge on how to address causes of child marriage that are rooted in gender inequality and norms related to sexuality. The sharing of this knowledge is intended to improve policy and programmes aimed at tackling the negative impact of Child Marriage on the health and economic wellbeing of girls, their communities, and society as a whole and ensuring that girls enjoy expanded life choices to fulfill their Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR).

OUR JOURNEY SO FAR

In our first five years, we developed three pathways, working with girls in their communities to…

STRENGTHEN GIRLS’ AGENCY

  • Created and supported girls’ clubs: youth-oriented safe spaces to share and learn.
  • Organised girl-led workshops to provide girls with information and support to pursue their life choices.
  • Built local platforms for implementing campaigns and mobilising girls’ collective engagement and influence.

GROW ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL ALTERNATIVES

  • Delivered vocational and business skills-training to support girls in realising income-generating opportunities.
  • Provided transportation to attend school.
  • Increased access to quality, youth-centered Sexual &Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) services.

AND INFLUENCE SOCIAL NORMS

  • Initiated parent and community conversations about positive gender roles and viable futures.
  • Engaged educators, policymakers, governments and law enforcement in understanding and supporting positive change.
  • Trained healthcare workers in providing gender and youth-aware services.
download MTBA program and strategies

AND REALISED SIGNIFICANT ACHIEVEMENTS:

  • Established 3,491 youth groups to inform and empower 150,394 girls and boys on SRHR.

  • Engaged 89,076 parent organisations and community leaders on the benefits of keeping girls in school. In Mali, the average years of girls’ education increased from 3.9 to 4.5 years.

  • Trained 1,371 representatives from law enforcement, judiciary, and legal aid, and 2,851 healthcare workers on Child Marriage laws and impacts, and delivering youth and gender- sensitive services.

  • Organized activities for 20,943 girls to learn income-generating skills.

  • In India, the proportion of girls currently married decreased from 19.8% at baseline to 5.5% at endline.

    In Niger, the proportion of girls who had knowledge of modern contraceptive methods increased from 48.3% to 64.4%.

  • Overall, 3,085 girls successfully advocated for themselves to delay marriage.

GOING FORWARD

Over these first years, our programme’s has become increasingly more girl-centered and girl-led. Now with over 3000 girls’ and youth clubs as a solid base, we will strengthen their sustainability and capacity for change, through three initiatives:

FACILITATE LEARNING

  • Leveraging the existing knowledge and connections of the alliance to address gender root causes of child marriage related to inequality and norms about sexuality.
  • Facilitating learning and exchange to expand and deepen limited available research on the impact of Child Marriage on girls’ SRHR and community wellbeing.
  • Using inclusive learning methods that promote the voices of girls and others in their communities, such as youth-led research and participatory learning methods.
  • Piloting, researching and publishing innovative approaches aimed at addressing root causes of child marriage

DEVELOP AND TEST INNOVATIVE APPROACHES
To tackle the root causes of child marriage the alliance is committed to develop, pilot, test and research innovative approaches that address root causes of child marriage including:

CAMPAINING; ARE YOU LISTENING?
Launched as an awareness-raising campaign on COVID-19’s impacts on adolescent girls at risk of Child Marriage, we will transform this into a platform for advocacy action and training.

  • Focusing initially on urging government and civil society organisations to make girls central to their pandemic response.
  • Deploying a digital platform where girls can train in using both on- and off–line spaces to network, learn, and build advocacy movements, now and in the future.

Ultimately, we are working towards a world where girls can effectively unite their voices and build power, advocate for their rights and decisions, and truly have a voice and a choice in their lives. Contact us to explore collaboration to achieve these objectives.

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ABOUT THE MORE THAN BRIDES ALLIANCE

The collective strength and experience of our network of national and international partners enables us to develop a unique, comprehensive, and holistic approach to addressing Child Marriage.

The More Than Brides Alliance builds on a network of over 25 national and subnational organisations with extensive experience in child marriage programming. The national partners co-implement and facilitate research and learning across countries in collaboration with the following four international partners:

Save the Children Netherlands is a key player in the field of children’s rights and girls’ empowerment and brings to the alliance an extensive network of national-level Save the Children organisations in 120 countries.

Oxfam Novib brings a wealth of experience in the field of women’s rights and gender equality, as well as an extensive network of Oxfam organisations and partner organisations in over 90 countries.

Population Council brings a global network of offices in 11 countries and over 50 years of experience in research that strengthens the links between policy and practice and between evidence, advocacy and SRHR programmes, particularly related to adolescent girls, sexual- and gender-based violence, harmful cultural practices, and other topics influencing the health and wellbeing of adolescents, families, and communities.

Simavi is a health organisation specialised in water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) and SRHR with over 90 years of experience working with communities, providing them services, and bringing their stories to the attention of the public and authorities.