In the Shinyanga and Mara Regions of Tanzania, adolescent girls and young women have been trained as “Champions” to forward women and girls’ rights and help protect girls from child marriage and other harmful practices.
These Champions committed to raise community awareness about ending gender-based violence (GBV) and child marriage, utilizing knowledge they gained through My Rights My Choices Programme training in September 2022. Within a few months, the Champions have already reached over 200 girls, through organized awareness raising sessions and dialogues in schools and within communities.
"Seeing and experiencing violence throughout my life influenced me to join the movement as a Champion to end GBV and child marriage,” said Devota Rashid, 23 years old, from Shinyanga region. “The training equipped me and my fellow Champions with knowledge and skills to facilitate community dialogues on ending GBV and advocating for girls' and women's rights."
The Champions expressed that prior to training, they experienced and observed incidences of GBV in the community, and saw girls marry at a young age, but they understood it as part of life for women and girls, which they did not have the power to avert.
Through the My Rights My Choices Programme, the NGO Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF) trained a total of 105 adolescent girls and young women (15-24 years) as Champions in Kahama District of Shinyanga Region, and in Tarime and Butiama Districts of Mara Region. The four-day training covered women's and girls' rights, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and GBV, child marriage and other harmful practices. Adolescent girls and young women (ages 15 to 24), including those with disability, were nominated by community members based on their leadership potential, and ability to relate to the experience of GBV/child marriage/FGM; all participants were verified by local government.
The training also equipped the Champions with skills to identify and report cases of GBV and child marriage for prevention and response measures. Following the training, the Champions created action plans that reflect their commitment to disseminate knowledge on the rights and choices of women and girls, including those with disabilities, to live free from GBV and child marriage and elimination of stigma and discrimination.
Adolescent Girls and Young Women Champions of ‘My Rights My Choices’
Programme in Shinyanga Region, Tanzania. Photo by @UNFPATanzania/Ayubu Lulesu.
Preventing and Responding to Child Marriage
The Champions have already put their knowledge into action; during the course of the awareness raising sessions, they were able to save a 12-year-old girl from child marriage who had just graduated from standard seven. While waiting for her exam results, she was married with the oversight of her elder sister, who received a bride price of seven goats from the man.
As the community gained a better understanding of GBV and child marriage as a result of the Champions' awareness raising sessions, a young woman reported the case to the Champions who reported it to the district Social Welfare Officer, who then reported it to the Police Gender Desk Officer. The male suspect was quickly apprehended, and the survivor is being cared for in a safe house.
Modesta Degratius, 23 years old, a trained Champion said, “I wish this project had come earlier, because I could have saved my 14-year-old friend who was married. I was unaware of girls' rights at the time, and didn't know where or how to report, and lacked the confidence to do so. Since our training we have started to educate young girls groups, and in providing that education we have been able to raise various gender-based violence cases that are happening in the community.”
Modesta and Devota and their fellow Champions now recognize GBV and child marriage as human rights violations. The Champions understand the situation of fellow girls and young women, who are often vulnerable; they feel the urgency to advocate for the rights of girls' and women including those with disabilities in order to save more women and girls from GBV and child marriage.
Anastazia Gerald, a 23-year-old trained Champion living with disability, said "After the training, Adolescent Girl and Young Women Champions in Kahama District were introduced at the Ward Development Committee meeting, and the leaders promised to give us support. Then we began disseminating knowledge about girls' rights, and the rights of women and girls with disabilities, including the right to decision making, the right to education, the impact of GBV and child marriage, and where to report GBV incidents: the Police Gender Desk, Social Welfare Officers, NPA-VAWC Protection Committees and paralegals."
Modesta, Anastazia, Devota and their fellow Adolescent Girl and Young Women Champions now act as catalysts in their communities, disseminating information about ending GBV and child marriage, and bringing messages for positive social change. The Champions reach out to fellow adolescents and young women in and out of schools, and with the escort of Community Development Officers conduct door-to-door awareness in their neighborhoods to adult women, and girls’ groups through dialogues, groups and plenary discussion and story sharing.
The My Rights My Choices - Chaguo Langu Haki Yangu Programme is funded by the Government of Finland and implemented by UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, through partner organization WiLDAF and with the support of the regional and local government. The Programme aims to accelerate progress towards fulfillment of the rights of women and girls, particularly those with disabilities, and aims to contribute to ending GBV, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and child marriage.
Through the support of Adolescent Girl and Young Women Champions, and through other various initiatives, the Programme contributes to enhancing knowledge and response to GBV and child marriage, for women and girls to live dignified lives with their rights and choices respected to live free from GBV, FGM and child marriage, and with the aim to leave no one behind.
