DRC: youth-led organisation AJDC engages students, community leaders, & the media to end child marriage

In DRC, Association des Jeunes pour le Développement Communautaire (AJDC) organised events on two successive days, as part of Global Pledging Week to End Child Marriage. Both events were held in the city of Uvira, South Kivu Province.

The first event (main image) was held on 4 December, at the ONEMA Institute in the Kasenga district, with 60 people taking part. As well as collecting the pledges of students and teachers to end child marriage, the event raised awareness of the fight against child marriage in Uvira, including awareness of the laws on child protection and child marriage in the DRC. DRC has strong laws to end child marriage, including a total ban on all forms of early marriage and penalties for those involved in organising or participating in a wedding where a child is being married. However, poor implementation of the law means that 29% of young women were married as children.

AJDC worked with local media station Averticom to amplify the event, ensuring more community members were aware of their campaign in the region

AJDC sensitizes students on the fight against child marriage (in French)

Averticom also published an article on the event (in French):

Uvira: Students of the Onema Institute are committed to the fight against child marriage

On 5 December, a second event was held, this time at the Hydrology Research Centre in Uvira. This session was held for community leaders, child protection actors, and local authorities, and combined awareness-raising with advocacy. Participants discussed child marriage laws in the DRC and strategies to combat child marriage, with everyone taking the pledge to end child marriage.

After discussions and debate, a roadmap and action plan was developed and recommendations were made, and again AJDC worked with the local media to ensure this roadmap was recorded and published.

Uvira: Commitments have been made by certain state services to contribute to the fight against child marriage (in French) 

You can also read the article here (in French):

Residents called to act against the marriage of children under 18.

In total, more than 70 people took part across the two events.