Advocacy Together to End Child Marriage in Tanzania

In a groundbreaking visit, UNICEF's Director of Global Communication and Advocacy, Mr. Naysan Sahba, accompanied by Ms. Angela Travis, the regional communications chief of UNICEF's Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO), journeyed to Tanzania from 2nd to 5th May. Their mission: to advocate for vital amendments to Tanzania's Child Marriage Act. They engaged with influential stakeholders, including parliament members, faith leaders, organizations, and youth representatives. One notable highlight was their enlightening conversation with young individuals from Msimbazi Secondary School, centred around the Binti initiative.

The year 2022 marked a significant turning point as partners came together to launch Binti - a dynamic campaign led by youth. Binti has courageously shattered the silence surrounding child marriage in Tanzania, a nation where an alarming 3 in 10 women were married off as children. These statistics represent countless girls who are deprived of the opportunity to complete their education, are burdened with teenage pregnancies, and find themselves trapped in poverty with limited prospects for the future.

The Binti campaign has formed over 70 non-monetary partnerships and secured a remarkable 150,000 pledges against child marriage. These alliances provide the leverage needed to rekindle the conversation on child marriage among Parliamentarians and reignite the urgency for change.