A future without child marriage.

At World Vision, we believe that every child deserves a hopeful future free of abuse, violence, child marriage, and other harmful practices. Yet, the reality is harsh: 51% of girls in Bangladesh and 23% of girls in Kenya are married before their 18th birthday.

That’s why World Vision has launched the Big Dream to End Child Marriage program, which will engage communities in Bangladesh for four years and communities in Kenya for six years—empowering more girls to complete their education, gain skills to rise out of poverty, and break free from the cycle of child marriage.

OUR APPROACH:

In our work to reduce child marriage rates, we affirm two core principles: (1) Girls must be able to decide if, when, and whom to marry, and (2) a protective and enabling environment must exist for communities to resist child marriage.

Grounded in these principles, the Big Dream to End Child Marriage program includes five pillars:

• Behavior Change: Families and communities, including girls and boys, demonstrate social norms and practices that are equitable for women and girls, and support the ending of child marriage.
• Education Access: Girls have increased access to quality education and life-skills training.
• Economic Empowerment: Economic Empowerment interventions reduce the financial pressures that drive child marriage.
• Water and Sanitation Access: Water- and sanitation-related barriers to girls’ education are reduced, including gaining access to a drinking water collection point and basic sanitation and hygiene in communities.
• Strengthened Child Protection Systems: A robust legal and policy framework is in place to prevent child marriage and is adequately resourced and enforced.

WHY WORLD VISION:

World Vision has 75 years of experience working with communities, donors, partners, and governments to create opportunities for better futures for vulnerable children, even in the toughest places. Our expertise in delivering water, sanitation, and hygiene solutions, combined with decades of leadership in addressing equality for women and girls and a proven track record of helping people lift themselves out of poverty, means that we are uniquely qualified to address the barriers that prevent girls from reaching their full potential.

In 2019, we launched the Kenya Big Dream program to protect vulnerable children by working to end child marriage and eradicate female genital mutilation (FGM). The program made significant progress by educating children, advocating for child protection, and improving family livelihoods— reducing the economic pressure to marry off daughters for a bride price.

At the Kenya Big Dream program launch the prevalence of child marriage in the Samburu tribe was 67% across 30 villages. At the program mid-term, the prevalence was under 13% among those who participated in our program.

2030 VISION:

The Big Dream to End Child Marriage program applies our evidence-based approach that builds on our success in Kenya and expands into Bangladesh. By 2030, we aim to directly reach 660,000 people, including nearly 170,000 girls. In addition, 1.2 million people will indirectly benefit from improved social, health, and economic conditions.

We invite you to join our community of compassionate donors investing in the Big Dream to End Child Marriage. With your support, by 2030, we will help end child marriage and harmful practices everywhere we work in Kenya and in parts of Bangladesh.