The club was established as part of ActionAid Nepal’s local rights program to offer a variety of managerial support and training. Through eight adolescent clubs, eight youth groups, and seven child clubs in Dipayal Silgadhi Municipality, Shikhar Municipality, and KI Singh Rural Municipality of Doti, about 400 children, adolescents, and youths are actively involved in the fight against child marriage. They engage in community outreach programs like door-to-door campaigning and perform street dramas to discourage underage marriage.
“Some people claim that we are stopping child marriages out of jealousy because no one has come to us with a marriage proposal,” says Bimala Pariyar, one of the club members. But criticisms and pushbacks have not deterred these youth activists. Thanks to their tireless campaigning and support from officials who are now pushing for a law at the local level to prohibit child marriage. According to Bigyan Dewal, a former youth focal point person for Equity Development Center, Doti, Dipayal Silgadhi Municipality has created a draft version of the anti-child marriage ordinance and other local authorities are also committed to follow suit. The club has already prevented 13 child marriages in Doti. And most youngsters who were rescued from getting married off by their parents are now in school and actively involved in anti-child marriage campaigns. Besides preventing child marriage, the club also gathers update on the situations of minors who were married as children and offer counseling to both parents and children. “Initially, nobody was in support of this youth-led campaign. But soon after they managed to prevent 11 child marriages, the local representatives were on their side,” says Dewal. Today, the club enjoys the support from local police, elected officials and some parents. Some local units have even started allocating funds to empower the youths. For instance, in the fiscal year 2020/21, K.I. Singh Rural Municipality allocated Rs 50,000 for capacity building of youths and prevention of child marriage. Many youngsters in Palpa are also involved in the fight against child marriage. In collaboration with ActionAid Nepal and with assistance from the ActionAid Denmark Global Platform, the Youth Fellowship Leadership Development Project was established in the Bagnaskali Rural Municipality in 2019. The project has involvement of youths and coordination with the local government to organize various campaigns to prevent and stop child marriage. Four child weddings have already been prevented as a result of the campaign, and one lawsuit has been filed. Bagnaskali Rural Municipality-1 in Palpa saw zero incident of child marriage this year compared to 10 in 2021. This was possible due to teenage interventions, such as color analysis, orientation, and peer counseling. Through color analysis, 86 individuals this year who were most at risk of child marriage received counseling. About 500 adults from 398 families were also taught about the risks of child marriage. The members of the club, Yuva Sangam, led the initiative and gathered information on the hotspots for child marriage. In collaboration with the police, they formed a youth club to educate young people about the legal system in the battle against child marriage. To show the consequences of such dangerous practices, they included teachers and health professionals in their campaign. “Everyone in our area now knows that child marriage is a bad thing. They have heard the testimonies of those who got married as children,” says Manoj Sharma, a club member. Ishira’s parents married her off at a young age. But she was lucky enough to continue her studies. Today, she is an active member of the club that has been preventing child marriage in her area. Srijana Gaire, another club member, says despite awareness campaigns, child marriage is still a fairly common practice because many people still think that it is normal. “It will be easy to reduce child marriage if all municipal governments were to strongly support our campaigns,” she says. Bagnashkali Rural Municipality is one of the local units where the partnership between local government and youth activists against child marriage is bearing desired results. In the fiscal year 2021/21, the rural municipality allotted Rs 20,000 to keep the youth campaigns against child marriage running. In Bajura district, too, a network of girl clubs is fighting against child marriage. It intervened and stopped four unlawful marriages this year in wards 3, 4 and 9 of Budhinanda Municipality. Youth clubs in Siraha district are also writing a success story by lowering child marriage incidence with their campaignings in places like Dhangadhimai and Lahan. These clubs are supported by the local governments, ActionAid partner organization Dalit Janakalyan Youth Club, Women’s Rights Forum and other social organizations. The same goes for Parsa, where local youths in some villages are campaigning against child marriage in areas where the practice is common. Based on one survey, they have achieved a 70 percent success rate in child marriage prevention.
