Youth Voices to End Child Marriage
Tax deductible
Youth Voices to End Child Marriage
Every year, 12 million girls under 18 become child brides. That’s 12 million dreams that go dark. The good news is that there are brave and bold young people all over the world working to end child marriage in their communities. The Strongheart Group and internationally known "raptivist" Sonita Alizadeh are partnering to raise money to support these youth working to end child marriage.
For the past 3 years, in partnership and with the support of Strongheart, Sonita has been bringing her story and message to world leaders and decision makers, media, and audiences around the world in an effort to help end child marriage. In this short time, Sonita has spoken at countless events and has been featured in over 300 media outlets. Her powerful advocacy has been recognized with honors including the Mother Teresa Memorial Award for Social Justice and being named one of TIME Magazine’s Next Generation Leaders. Today, child marriage is making headlines in mainstream media and is being discussed as a crosscutting issue critical to achieving 8 of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
But she is just one person. Her story is just one story. Brave and Bold young people all over the world are working with their organizations in their communities to end child marriage. They need to be heard too.
The Strongheart Group and Sonita Alizadeh are partnering to support youth working to end child marriage. We are raising money to support the amplification of their voices, their development as leaders through scholarships to critical events, and to continue Sonita’s internationally recognized advocacy to end child marriage.
Who are these youth?
Every day, youth leaders juggle their own educations and livelihoods with the energy and resources required to support their fierce activism to build better futures for all girls. Their work to end child marriage takes many shapes and forms in different cultural contexts. Examples of their work include:
- training their peers to understand local and national policies that affect them,
- empowering girls to find their inner agency and stand up for
their dreams and futures,
- educating families, communities and religious leaders on the dangers of
child marriage and on the value of girls attending school,
- providing safe counseling and youth-to-youth convening spaces for victims
of child marriage to recover and rebuild their lives,
- offering sexual and reproductive health education,
- engaging boys and men in supporting girls’ rights, and so much more.
These are the young people who are on the front lines working to end child marriage and whose voices need to be heard. These are the young people who need to be present and participate in high level meetings, conferences and events. They are the ones who are best equipped to develop solutions and who should be helping to inform the critical development of policy, programs and funding to end child marriage. Together, we can help make that happen.
Be The Change
Join Strongheart, Sonita, and young Brave and Bold activists all over the world in their work by making a gift today. Your gift will go directly to scholarships supporting young people to be agents of change in ending child marriage by facilitating their attendance and participation in regional and global meetings where they can learn, inform decision-making and help develop large-scale solutions. Funds will also support Sonita’s continued advocacy as a powerhouse change-maker to end child marriage.
Strongheart
Strongheart’s mission is to advance social change by amplifying the voices of individuals with lived experience, whose perspectives are desperately needed to inform and inspire change in both global and local contexts. Strongheart partners with Sonita Alizadeh to bring her story and insight on child marriage to wide audiences and elevate the issue to spark conversation and galvanize action. Through the solid international platform that they have created, Strongheart and Sonita now have the opportunity to support more activists who work locally around the world and ensure that their voices are also being heard. With your support, Sonita and Strongheart together want to extend the mic and amplify the impact of youth activists everywhere.
Sonita
Sonita Alizadeh is a young rapper and refugee from Afghanistan who twice escaped child marriage. Partnering with Strongheart Group as a change agent since early 2015, she has risen as the leading global youth voice on child marriage, co-created a curriculum with Speak Truth to Power used by high school students around the world and is a powerful social influencer. Sonita is one of three Girls Not Brides Champions, alongside Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Mrs Graça Machel, as advocates who can open doors which would otherwise be shut; can be strong voices in the media; and can inspire activists and civil society groups in realizing they are not alone in working to end the practice of child marriage. Her advocacy as a rapper has won esteemed awards like the Asia Game Changer Award and recognitions that bring the topic of child marriage to new arenas, such as her nomination for MTV’s first-ever “Generation Change Award”. She has spoken with world leaders and audiences around the globe about the harm of child marriage and the need for creative, cross-cutting, youth-centered solutions. Sonita wants girls everywhere to have the freedom to be able to live their dreams. Catch a glimpse of her conviction in a video at the bottom of this page or learn more at www.sonita.org.
Imagine what could happen if all the girls being forced into marriage could instead make their dreams come true. Let's put that vision into action by supporting the youth working to make it happen.
Every year, 12 million girls under 18 become child brides. That’s 12 million dreams that go dark. The good news is that there are brave and bold young people all over the world working to end child marriage in their communities. The Strongheart Group and internationally known "raptivist" Sonita Alizadeh are partnering to raise money to support these youth working to end child marriage.
For the past 3 years, in partnership and with the support of Strongheart, Sonita has been bringing her story and message to world leaders and decision makers, media, and audiences around the world in an effort to help end child marriage. In this short time, Sonita has spoken at countless events and has been featured in over 300 media outlets. Her powerful advocacy has been recognized with honors including the Mother Teresa Memorial Award for Social Justice and being named one of TIME Magazine’s Next Generation Leaders. Today, child marriage is making headlines in mainstream media and is being discussed as a crosscutting issue critical to achieving 8 of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
But she is just one person. Her story is just one story. Brave and Bold young people all over the world are working with their organizations in their communities to end child marriage. They need to be heard too.
The Strongheart Group and Sonita Alizadeh are partnering to support youth working to end child marriage. We are raising money to support the amplification of their voices, their development as leaders through scholarships to critical events, and to continue Sonita’s internationally recognized advocacy to end child marriage.
Who are these youth?
Every day, youth leaders juggle their own educations and livelihoods with the energy and resources required to support their fierce activism to build better futures for all girls. Their work to end child marriage takes many shapes and forms in different cultural contexts. Examples of their work include:
- training their peers to understand local and national policies that affect them,
- empowering girls to find their inner agency and stand up for
their dreams and futures,
- educating families, communities and religious leaders on the dangers of
child marriage and on the value of girls attending school,
- providing safe counseling and youth-to-youth convening spaces for victims
of child marriage to recover and rebuild their lives,
- offering sexual and reproductive health education,
- engaging boys and men in supporting girls’ rights, and so much more.
These are the young people who are on the front lines working to end child marriage and whose voices need to be heard. These are the young people who need to be present and participate in high level meetings, conferences and events. They are the ones who are best equipped to develop solutions and who should be helping to inform the critical development of policy, programs and funding to end child marriage. Together, we can help make that happen.
Be The Change
Join Strongheart, Sonita, and young Brave and Bold activists all over the world in their work by making a gift today. Your gift will go directly to scholarships supporting young people to be agents of change in ending child marriage by facilitating their attendance and participation in regional and global meetings where they can learn, inform decision-making and help develop large-scale solutions. Funds will also support Sonita’s continued advocacy as a powerhouse change-maker to end child marriage.
Strongheart
Strongheart’s mission is to advance social change by amplifying the voices of individuals with lived experience, whose perspectives are desperately needed to inform and inspire change in both global and local contexts. Strongheart partners with Sonita Alizadeh to bring her story and insight on child marriage to wide audiences and elevate the issue to spark conversation and galvanize action. Through the solid international platform that they have created, Strongheart and Sonita now have the opportunity to support more activists who work locally around the world and ensure that their voices are also being heard. With your support, Sonita and Strongheart together want to extend the mic and amplify the impact of youth activists everywhere.
Sonita
Sonita Alizadeh is a young rapper and refugee from Afghanistan who twice escaped child marriage. Partnering with Strongheart Group as a change agent since early 2015, she has risen as the leading global youth voice on child marriage, co-created a curriculum with Speak Truth to Power used by high school students around the world and is a powerful social influencer. Sonita is one of three Girls Not Brides Champions, alongside Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Mrs Graça Machel, as advocates who can open doors which would otherwise be shut; can be strong voices in the media; and can inspire activists and civil society groups in realizing they are not alone in working to end the practice of child marriage. Her advocacy as a rapper has won esteemed awards like the Asia Game Changer Award and recognitions that bring the topic of child marriage to new arenas, such as her nomination for MTV’s first-ever “Generation Change Award”. She has spoken with world leaders and audiences around the globe about the harm of child marriage and the need for creative, cross-cutting, youth-centered solutions. Sonita wants girls everywhere to have the freedom to be able to live their dreams. Catch a glimpse of her conviction in a video at the bottom of this page or learn more at www.sonita.org.
Imagine what could happen if all the girls being forced into marriage could instead make their dreams come true. Let's put that vision into action by supporting the youth working to make it happen.
Organizer
Strongheart Group
Organizer
Austin, TX
The Strongheart Group
Beneficiary