Girl Leaders Fight Against Early & Forced Marriage

Since September 2016, from film screenings to winning short film contest, a lot has been done as a run up to Early and Forced Marriage Campaign 2.0. A major celebration for us all through this is that six of our past campaigners have now joined our team as interns and will take up their new journey training as professionals from here on. Three of the past campaigners have started their own community initiatives through fellowships that we have provided and they teach girls from disadvantaged backgrounds about gender and related stereotypes that are prevailing in society and how they can take a stand against them. These are the new leaders who have emerged from the campaigning process last year. We call this the Level 3 of Young Women's Leadership Program.

In October, 2016, 6 of the Level 3 girls made two minutes short films on ‘What is peace to me?’ where they showcased daily lives of girls and what are the things/ activities in which they find peace. These films were sent as entries to ‘Peace Builders International Film Festival, 2016’ and have also won an award there! This public exposure has infused so much confidence in girls that they now organise screenings of their films themselves in different communities and also hold discussions afterwards to discuss around the topic of ‘early and forced marriage’. The girls have been able to organise 10 film screenings since September 2016, out of which six have been organised within different communities of Delhi and four have been organised outside Delhi in association with our partner organisations. In the coming days, three more screenings will be conducted with the help from Mahila Kamgar Manch, a group that works with domestic workers in Delhi.

The girls have now started taking up different roles and more responsibilities. 15 of the past campaigners are now Level 3 leaders with our Young Women Leadership Program and are learning advanced technical skills including photoshop, corel draw, advanced computer techniques, etc. Once campaigners of the project, they have now grown into facilitators who facilitate sessions and classes. 12 of the previous year's Level 1 girls are now in Level 2, which means they have joined as active campaigners in the campaign against early and forced marriage and help the project in all their capacities, be it report writing, photography, organising film screenings and mobilising for it, carrying the discussion forward or just observing it.

These film screenings have helped in creating awareness among community members about early and forced marriage. They have started understanding the adversities of marrying girls at an early age. The girls have also started questioning the societal norms set for how a girl should dress up, when she should get married, who she should marry, what role family should play in her development, etc. They have gained a lot of confidence to stand straight against all these stigmas. Now, they themselves take initiative to organise film screenings and inspire other girls to come forward. They have learned to travel alone and represent the organisation at events and conferences.

However, we often receive flak from parents who ask us to take their boys for computer classes and do not give importance to their girls’ education. To this, our girls explain to them that girls should also be given equal opportunity to learn and become independent. And since girls don't get such opprtunities otherwise, the project that FAT runs should remain girls only to prioritize girls needs!

A challenge that remains is irregularity in participation of some campaigners. Most of the girls associated with the project are not able to come regularly due to their after school tuitions and household chores, and as a result they miss on things that are taught in the class. The facilitators try their best to keep everyone on same page by taking extra classes of the absentees and devoting time to them to make them understand the concepts.

With all these activities and opportunities, most of the new girls in the project have now started taking initiatives and observing stereotypes within their communities and breaking them. For film screenings, we are partnering with organisations that has taken the project to national level. The project has provided a safe space to girls where they feel free to speak up their minds. We are thankful for your support so far and seek the same in future to create more such safe space opportunities for girls so they stand for themselves in their lives.