Stakeholders meet to discuss Child Marriage

Share-Net Bangladesh organised a roundtable meeting at The Daily Star office where stakeholders, researchers and practitioners came together for exchange and discussion of their projects, learnings, challenges and overcoming those challenges. The purpose of the meeting was to promote collaboration among the CoP (Community of Practice) members so that they can move forward towards the goal of preventing child marriage in a comprehensive manner.

This meeting was an opportunity for participants to share their learnings with other community of practice members. Nishath Sultana, Programme Coordinator (Gender Justice and Diversity), BRAC, spoke about the importance of involving men and boys in women’s empowerment. Richard Lace, Country Director, BBC Media Action spoke on how the app Hello Check helps in youth empowerment without using the word ‘marriage’, the app rather engages with the youth by talking about love, money and jobs. Nasrin Begum, BNPS, said, “Let young girls know the consequences of early marriage and early pregnancy from elderly women who are suffering from prolapsed uterus as a result of childbearing at an early age.”

Dr. Md. Sarwar Bari, Line Director of Field Services Delivery Unit, who was the Special Guest at the meeting, laid importance on the fact that when a girl is in her teens, it is time for her to study, play and dream, not to shoulder the burdens of the family, household and chores.

Dr. Annie Vestjens, First Secretary, SRHR and Gender, Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands, who was the Special Guest, focussing on the importance of a coordinated effort said, “If we really want to achieve something…we have to move forward in a coordinated way,”

The meeting was chaired and coordinated by Arnob Chakrabarty, Managing Director, RedOrange Media and Communications.