It presents an opportunity to share experiences and reflect on what we need to do differently if we want to step up our efforts towards ending child marriage, an issue close to my heart.
I've seen what being a child bride can do to a girl.
I have five sisters, three of whom were married as children. As such, my sisters did not get a good education. They gave birth at an early age and now they are faced with challenges and limited opportunities. Now I am a father to three girls. I want a different life for them and for all the other girls growing up across Africa – and the rest of the world.
The summit, hosted by the Government of the Republic of Zambia, is taking place in Lusaka this week. It follows the launch at the May 2014 Africa Heads of State meeting in Addis Ababa of the campaign to end early and forced child marriage.
Both the campaign and summit are significant for a continent, home to an estimated 7 million child brides.
While we have made good progress working in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) and national levels to influence policy and legal changes, more needs to be done at the grassroots level.
Long-term engagement with communities is key if we want to end child marriage across Africa.
Child rights organisation Plan International is dedicated to tackling child marriage and we've learnt time and time again, the perception of this issue is almost universally negative.
Yet why does it still happen?
Marriage for a 14 year old girl should not be seen as the only option for parents or for children. That's fundamentally flawed.
If we want to make a difference, we need to look at how governments and civil society can change with communities to help them realise the impact of child marriage. We need to work with girls to help them understand the value of education and the benefits of the life they can have if they stay in school. But transforming attitudes and practices that have become acceptable over time requires investment in innovative approaches that draw on and build on the knowledge of all relevant actors at policy and grassroots levels.
Plan International has been working against child marriages alongside community-based organisations, regional traditional leaders, media and national governments. By creating local and regional platforms to raise awareness, to discuss and to take action, the pressure is building up to eliminate early child marriage in Africa.
Focusing on Southern Africa, Plan International´s "18+ Programme" on ending child marriages in Tanzania, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Mozambique has been engaging with and transforming communities and societies. It contributed significantly to convince the Malawian Parliament, which recently passed a law to declare 18 as the minimum legal age for marriage.
Now, more than ever, is the time to bring all actors together and tackle the issue of early child marriage across the continent. After all, we can neither keep the promise of the African Children's Charter, nor attain the new Sustainable Development Goals if young girls and women continue to suffer early child marriage.
Progress is being made and it's heartening to seeing discussions taking place across the board. It gives us hope that it is possible to end child marriage within a generation.
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