Eddy K. and Plan International

At Eddy K, we believe that weddings should be a time of celebration, love and happiness for a bride, a dream come true. However, it has come to our attention that far too many girls and young women are forced into marriage too young, against their will and denying them basic human rights, turning what should be a joyous celebration into a dreadful one.

For this reason, Eddy K has decided to start a partnership with Plan International in its commitment to ending child, early and forced marriage for adolescent girls and boys in Bangladesh By contributing to Plan International’s work in Bangladesh, our hope at Eddy K is to help change the lives of young girls and boys to be economically empowered and free from child, early and forced marriage.

We want to invite you on this new journey to #EndChildMarriage and empower more girls and women to protect their right to an education. The more Eddy K Brides, the more we can help this wonderful cause.

Project Summary:

Bangladesh marries off more girls under 15 than any other country in the world. According to UNICEF’s State of the World’s Children Report, 2016; 52% of girls in Bangladesh are married by their 18th birthday and 18% by the age of 15. Whereas nationally 34.3% of girls age 15-19 are married, the highest prevalence in the country can be found in Jhalokati and Bhola communities.

This 4.5 year project ending in September 2022, will tackle the issue of child, early and forced marriage in Bangladesh by:

Increasing the agency of adolescent girls and boys to protect themselves from harmful gender norms and practices, including CEFM, and exercise choice about their futures via enhanced economic empowerment, knowledge and capacity
Improve community acceptance of norms that value the girl child and actions that support girls and boys to delay marriage by building the ability and capacity of champion fathers, mothers, and community gatekeepers
Increasing the responsiveness of duty bearers at national, district and sub-district levels to prevent and respond to child rights violations, particularly CEFM by using online marriage registration systems and age verification mobile apps.

Eddy K’s contributions will support the following activities:

Train adolescent girls and family members on small enterprise development, business skills, savings and how to conduct a market scan for their enterprise
Train out-of-school adolescent girls and boys on gender stereotypes, value of girls and stigma against girls
Train teachers on Gender Equity Movement in Schools and adolescent sexual and reproductive health education
Sports, games and events to be held with messaging on girl’s rights and early marriage that challenge gender stereotypes for adolescent girls and boys
Sessions with Champion Fathers and Mothers and other parents in the community on CEFM prevention and understanding value of girls
Meetings with Min. of Education to sign MOU on delivery of Gender Equity Movement in Schools and adolescent sexual and reproductive health education in secondary schools and Dakhil Madrasahs in Bhola & Jhalokati

To view the complete report, go to: https://eddyk.com/plan-international/