Stand Up, Speak Out

We currently have the largest youth population in history. Young people are the most affected by child marriage: we are not going to end this harmful practice without them. We often hear that the youth are the leaders of tomorrow; but here at Girls Not Brides, we know that young people are already leading! Decisions about the future cannot be made without those who will live in it – the youth of today must be empowered to speak out for the future they want. Engaging youth, working with both boys and girls, is key to transforming gender norms and vital in breaking the cycle of child marriage. Young people must be heard, and we must include them in working on ending child marriage; to put a stop to this practice for this generation and for those to come! This is why we are so excited about the new Girls Not Brides youth activism training programme, called “Stand Up, Speak Out”. These new training resources offer you a carefully planned series of workshops, all designed to empower young people; both by building knowledge around child marriage and by strengthening the skills they need to become powerful change makers. Throughout the training, there are dynamic, fun methods and strategies we have included for empowering young people to champion change in their communities. The programme comes as a package of two resources. First, we have developed a Trainer Manual. This is divided into 5 modules, each covering specific topics which take participants on a journey of discovery to become powerful agents of change. It offers step-by-step guidance on how to run a series of training workshops with young people interested in speaking out against child marriage and developing their activism skills. The second resource is a Participant Guide for young people who join in the training sessions. This guide acts as a textbook on all the content covered in the training, and to act as a guide for participants on how to advocate for change, and is designed to accompany the training series.