Did you know…?
In Mexico, there are 224,454 adolescents between 12 and 17 years old who are married or living in free union. 4 OUT OF EVERY 100 ADOLESCENTS IN THE COUNTRY ARE OR HAVE BEEN IN A CONYUGAL UNION. Child Marriages and Unions violate human rights and deprive girls of education, health and opportunities. In the Region of La Montaña, in the state of Guerrero, Mexico, this practice has historical roots, based on their uses and customs, and currently shows the highest rate in the state, which occur mostly through the sale of girls and adolescents to adult men.
How can you help by donating?
Since 2017, we have achieved that 11 localities in Metlatónoc, Guerrero, one of the poorest municipalities in Mexico, have put an end to the sale of girls for marriage, through the signing of Memorandums of Agreement by the local authorities.
This means that 6,400 girls and adolescents, between 10 and 17 years old, will not be sold into marriage by their parents and will be able to choose a life project based on their rights. We are close to the achieve this in the twelfth locality, which will increase the number of girls and adolescents protected from that extreme form of violence.
How do we achieve it?
Our program has two main components: (1) “Community Empowerment” raising awareness among inhabitants, social leaders and authorities, through interactive conferences about the recognition of the rights of women and girls and the prevention of violence against them and thorough active participation in community assemblies, which will lead to the preparation and signing of Memorandums of Agreement for the prohibition of the sale of girls for marriage by the General Assembly; and (2) “School Empowerment” strengthening the capacities of teachers and psychoeducation of children and adolescents, in terms of the rights of children and adolescents, violence prevention, and sexual and reproductive health.
Next steps
The region of La Montaña de Guerrero is made up of 19 municipalities, which are among the poorest in the country and historically present the highest rates of child marriages and unions in the state. We need your support to eradicate the child marriage in all the region, reaching the remaining 18 localities.
“We can stop child marriage in Mexico. Together, we can change this situation. Please HELP THEM NOT REACH THE ALTAR program. Your donation will make a difference and you can become an agent of change in the lives of thousands of girls in Mexico!”
Links:
La infancia es una etapa decisiva para el desarrollo de las personas. Es el momento en que se desarrollan las capacidades físicas, emocionales e intelectuales que definen nuestra personalidad. Es un tiempo para ser feliz, para jugar, para vivir en familia y comunidad, para ir a la escuela y entablar las primeras amistades, no para casarse y/o ser madre.
Miles de niñas en México ven interrumpida su niñez y adolescencia y, con ella, su pleno desarrollo, cuando se ven obligadas a contraer matrimonio producto de costumbres arraigadas en diversas comunidades mexicanas, así como por embarazos no planeados de niñas y adolescentes, muchas veces producto de violencia sexual, que lleva a las niñas y adolescentes a casarse o unirse a edades tempranas. El matrimonio infantil y las uniones tempranas están relacionados con las desigualdades de género, la pobreza, la deserción escolar, la violencia y el embarazo adolescente. El matrimonio infantil pone en peligro la vida y la salud de las niñas, además de limitar su futuro.
Desde 2017 en Yo Quiero Yo Puedo impulsamos acciones para prevenir el matrimonio infantil y las uniones tempranas a través de programas psicoeducativos orientados a ampliar las opciones de las niñas para que puedan elegir y tomar sus propias decisiones, promovemos la igualdad de género y generamos estrategias personales y comunitarias acabar con esta práctica.
Tu apoyo nos permite seguir trabajando en las comunidades que más lo necesitan, cada donación se traduce en una nueva oportunidad para que niñas, adolescentes y mujeres tengan un futuro mejor.
Child marriage is a global problem that has devastating consequences for thousands of girls and adolescents. Understanding the causes and consequences of this practice makes us continue working so soon no woman will be forced to marry without her consent.
In Yo quiero Yo Puedo, and thanks to the collaboration of great allies, we have managed to enter the heart of the Montaña in the State of Guerrero, Mexico, to implement our program “Help them not to reach the altar” with the communities of the municipality of Metlatonoc, where this practice is still part of their uses and customs, as it is common that girls and adolescents are married to much older men to reduce the economic burden for their families and to obtain some income from the sale of the minor.
From our work, communities have understood that this practice violate human rights, and are aware now of the violence dynamics against girls and women which voices have been nullified for decades in the region. Thanks to the support we have had, our team of local facilitators has entered the communities to generate sustainable individual and social change, gaining the trust of the residents, being sensitive to the conditions of the region and deeply respecting the beliefs, which has resulted in the signing of 11 minutes of agreement, where local authorities and community representatives have decided to criminalize and put an end to this practice.
We still have a lot to do and thanks to your contributions we can continue working to build a different reality for thousands of girls and women in the region, through education and awareness raising to guarantee the recognition and protection of their rights.
Join us to end violence against girls and women!
We are celebrating! On September 13th, 2022, the "La Boda de Juanita" campaign was recognized with the gold award at the 10° Encuentro C-level of IAB Mexico. Thanks to the pro bono support of Media Monks we have managed to share our message with more people, becoming a national reference on the issue of the prevention of forced marriages and child unions in Mexico. Up to now “La Boda de Juanita” videoclip have had more than 37,161 reproductions on social networks, we invite you to see it!
“Yo Quiero Yo Puedo” keeps working to ensure that the rights of girls and women are recognized, respected and protected in every corner of Mexico and in the rest of the world. Thanks to the solidarity of great allies, our project "Ayúdalas a no llegar al altar " [“Help them not to reach the altar”] has achieved that 6,400 girls and adolescents, in the municipality of Metlatónoc, Guerrero, are no longer in danger of being sold for marriage. Every day se have more people interested in joining efforts for this cause, but there is still much more to do.
In the upcoming months, our team of local facilitators will return to action seeking more communities to join the signing of acts prohibiting the sale of girls and women in the municipality of Metlatonoc, Guerrero. We hope that in the next two years the program will reach 20 more localities with the aim of signing the act that criminalizes child marriages from our work with all the community actors involved in this practice.
Thanks to your support we can continue talking about this problem and our solution which represents a great story of social change that is helping many girls to change their destiny.
Links:
A very special Children's Day
Within the framework of Children's Day in Mexico (May 8), we continue to spread awareness in relation to children's rights, using for this purpose an emblematic case in which a minor under 13 years of age was unfairly persecuted and detained by the police. community police officer in Guerrero, Mexico, wanting to flee from her forced marriage.
With the support of Media Monks and Oriental Films, a short film was created that conveys the helplessness in which thousands of girls and boys live in the country.
To Yo Quiero Yo Puedo, being able to expose these realities is an institutional mission that is renewed with each situation of injustice and violation of rights. Fortunately, we have had allies as committed to this issue as we are and with people like you who are concerned about adding their grain of sand to combat this reality: more than 132,431 people have seen the video on different social networks!!!
We hope that this interest in the subject translates into donations that allow us to continue raising awareness and working with communities and authorities to stop child marriage.
We share the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3nbbwbaV5E and we invite you to continue supporting this initiative for more #NiñasenLibertad.
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can recieve an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
Make a monthly donation & get 
