E-volunteers from 15 districts of Madhya Pradesh, including Bhopal, had a workshop today on the theme of saying “no” to child marriage. The workshop was organised by Vikas Samvad in partnership with UNICEF, CRY, TDH and Digital Democracy. 65 e-volunteers from 15 districts participated in the same
Speaking at the event, Sachin Jain of Vikas Samvad said that child marriage is an issue which needs higher level of advocacy and engagement of political leaders.
Anil Gulati, Communication Specialist UNICEF, Madhya Pradesh, said that child marriage is the violation of child rights and it badly impacts the lives of children not only in Madhya Pradesh but also in other parts of the country.
He added that the prevalence of child marriage is decreasing but progress on ending this practice is slow. In child marriage, not only the rights of the individuals involved get violated but their unpreparedness to protect against any violation makes them more vulnerable to further exploitation. He added that e-volunteers, with their skills of social media, can help make this issue visible, help create a positive narrative on the issue.
Dr Vandana Bhatia, UNICEF Health Specialist, spoke on the impact of child health due to child marriage and early pregnancy.
She added that it is important to look at health aspects linked to child marriage. Sujan Sarkar, PME Officer UNICEF India, State and district wise data quoting National Family Health Survey of child marriage.
Rakesh Malviya of Vikas Samvad conducted the programme and had briefed the participants on how they can, together as group, drive the agenda of saying “no” to child marriage.
Sachin Srivastava, Social media expert, trained these e-volunteers on intricacies of twitter, and how to use hashtag and how to drive campaign on social media. The participants tweeted live using hashtag #SayNoToChildMarriage, shared videos and pictures of the event and now will be using various case studies from ground to bring it to social media.