India has made significant progress in reducing child marriage, yet the practice continues to affect children across several states. Aligned with Sustainable Development Goal 5 on gender equality, ChildFund India addresses this challenge through a community-driven approach. The program works with adolescents, families, and local systems to prevent early marriage by strengthening awareness of the law, promoting girls’ education and leadership, and enabling timely reporting and intervention. By collaborating with Panchayats, schools, frontline workers, and district authorities, the initiative supports coordinated action to protect children’s rights and delay marriage until adulthood.
Youth groups are formed at the community level, with selected members trained as Peer Educators on the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006. These groups create safe spaces for dialogue, peer learning, and youth-led advocacy.
Peer Educators lead interactive sessions and campaigns within youth groups, helping adolescents understand the risks of child marriage, their rights, and the role they can play in prevention.
Street plays, wall writings, mobile van campaigns, rallies, and community meetings raise awareness on the harmful impacts of child marriage, legal consequences, and reporting pathways, fostering shared responsibility.
Block-level sensitisation sessions engage Panchayat members, police, frontline workers, and local officials to clarify roles, legal provisions, and coordinated responses under the law.
District consultations bring together government departments, civil society, and child protection actors to develop context-specific strategies and strengthen coordination to prevent child marriage.
Increased awareness of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act and the harms of early marriage
Stronger local child protection mechanisms and reporting pathways
Greater adolescent participation and leadership in prevention efforts
Higher school retention rates among girls
Adolescent girls aged 11 to 18 years and their families across 70 villages in Udaipur, Rajasthan.
Supported 2,000 girls to continue schooling, with 100% completing secondary education, digital confidence increasing to 82%, and sustained engagement reaching over 8,000 families.
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