The Power of Collective Action

At Girls Not Brides, we believe no one single actor can address child marriage. We need all hands on deck to ensure girls can fulfil their potential and exercise their rights. We also believe that when we bring diverse groups of stakeholders together – from grassroots organisations to large international agencies - transformational change can happen.

Girls Not Brides National Partnerships are diverse groups of civil society organisations that work together to advocate for the rights of girls and end child marriage in their countries. Over the past few years, these National Partnerships have had considerable successes, including pushing for constitutional changes to raise the age of marriage, working with their governments to develop national action plans that address child marriage, and advocating for budget allocation at the sub-national level to make sure change happens for girls in their communities.

How did our National Partnerships achieve these wins? How was internal organisation key to their success? This set of case studies tells six stories of how collective working can create meaningful changes in the lives of girls. Each example outlines valuable lessons learned to help civil society actors, institutional and government donors and practitioners better understand:

• how to bring a range of different stakeholders together to pursue a common goal;
• common challenges encountered in collective advocacy, and how to overcome them;
• how the internal health of a partnership is central to its ability to achieve impact;
• the benefits of a collective approach when advocating for gender equality.

We hope these case studies inspire you to learn more about the potential and power in partnerships. For more information about Girls Not Brides National Partnerships and their work, go to www.GirlsNotBrides.org.