Advocacy Against Child Marriage

At Swarachna School, Milaan, Sitapur, Lucknow children from neighboring 14 villages 300 girls and boys come milling in every morning excited to be at the school, learn new things, and play. Most of the children are from SC and OBC communities, with a significant number of them being Muslims. Almost all the students come from low income households, with most of their family members engaged in agriculture.

 

Last year the My Life Mere Faisle program was run in the school with 106 students of 12-15 years of age.The year long curriculum and journey led to the emergence of a of 12 young leaders who formed a group and implemented an Action Project to advocate against Child Marriage.

 

The group got together and designed and implemented the project over three days in the month of May, with support from their peers in the program. They neatly divided themselves into three sub groups and used three mediums to engage people in their school and community with the issue. As a part of the action project, a skit based on child marriage was enacted by 5 students. Posters on gender sensitivity were created by one group, while the third group conducted a discussion on early child marriage on the sidelines of the school’s assembly. Together they reached out to approximately 350 people.

 

Akshay, the lead facilitator shares:

“We were delighted with the initiative and ownership taken by the students in conducting the action projects. In a very short time, students were able to stage a wonderful play, create posters and conduct a lively discussion almost entirely on their own. It only goes on further reiterate the success of MLMF in firmly instilling the idea behind the intervention in their minds. It has also made the students more confident of accomplishing similar such projects in the future with the larger community.”

Milaan is currently running the second year of the program at Swarachna school. To read more about the program please click here: https://pravahdelhi.wordpress.com/2016/12/02/my-life-mere-faisle/

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