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Champions to End Child Marriage in Africa
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Champions leading to end child marriage in Africa

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Portrait of Sokona Tounkara, a youth activist from Mali.

Mali is one of nine governments that have officially launched the African Union’s Campaign to End Child Marriage, and none too soon.

Though the minimum legal age of marriage for girls in the country is 18, the UNFPA reports that 55 percent of girls are married before that. Sokona Tounkara watched friends as young as 11 become child brides.

“I have a lot of friends who have been victims of child marriage,” said Tounkara, a youth activist with AJCAD, the Youth Association for Active Citizenship and Democracy.
Her organization uses radio, TV and social media to advocate for child rights and access to reproductive health services and educate children and their parents about the dangers of child marriage. The group’s members travel to different cities, where they use art, music and drama to encourage families to talk about difficult but important topics.

At first, she said, parents shied away from these conversations and urged their children to avoid AJCAD’s community events.
“But now, we have parents who attend our events and they even participate in the debate,” she said. “Sometimes, when we do our evaluations of our program, we invite parents and children to discuss and give them the space to explain the effect of child marriage and forced marriage to their daughters.”

For a portrait series on champions leading to end child marriage in Africa. All images made at the first-ever African Girls’ Summit on Ending Child Marriage, held in Lusaka, Zambia. The meeting aimed to facilitate exchange of good practices and challenges in ending child marriage, and to secure and renew commitments from African stakeholders.

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Stephanie Sinclair
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www.stephaniesinclair.com
Portrait of Sokona Tounkara, a youth activist from Mali.<br /> <br /> Mali is one of nine governments that have officially launched the African Union’s Campaign to End Child Marriage, and none too soon.<br /> <br /> Though the minimum legal age of marriage for girls in the country is 18, the UNFPA reports that 55 percent of girls are married before that. Sokona Tounkara watched friends as young as 11 become child brides.<br /> <br /> “I have a lot of friends who have been victims of child marriage,” said Tounkara, a youth activist with AJCAD, the Youth Association for Active Citizenship and Democracy.<br /> Her organization uses radio, TV and social media to advocate for child rights and access to reproductive health services and educate children and their parents about the dangers of child marriage. The group’s members travel to different cities, where they use art, music and drama to encourage families to talk about difficult but important topics.<br /> <br /> At first, she said, parents shied away from these conversations and urged their children to avoid AJCAD’s community events.<br /> “But now, we have parents who attend our events and they even participate in the debate,” she said. “Sometimes, when we do our evaluations of our program, we invite parents and children to discuss and give them the space to explain the effect of child marriage and forced marriage to their daughters.”<br /> <br /> For a portrait series on champions leading to end child marriage in Africa. All images made at the first-ever African Girls’ Summit on Ending Child Marriage, held in Lusaka, Zambia. The meeting aimed to facilitate exchange of good practices and challenges in ending child marriage, and to secure and renew commitments from African stakeholders.