Sabancı Foundation Supports Global Collaboration to Address Child Marriage

- Chairman of Sabancı Foundation Board of Trustees, Ms. Güler Sabancı: “Every Day, Approximately 38,000 Girls Are Forced to Give Up Their Childhood. We Have to Mobilize All Segments of the Community Around This Issue”

- Girls Not Brides Global Coordinator, Ms. Lakshmi Sundaram: “Home to Some Exciting and Innovative Efforts to End Child Marriage, Turkey has the Potential to be a Major Influence in Bringing this Practice to an End”

- Blue Veins Program Coordinator, Mr. Qamar Naseem: “If Turkey Takes a Lead in Addressing Child Marriage, the Effects will be Felt not Only yy Girls in Turkey but Millions of Girls Beyond its Borders”

Sabancı Foundation is honored to be the main donor of the “We Can End Child Marriage Together: Sharing Lessons From Other Countries” workshop, organized by Girls Not Brides. The workshop aims to raise public awareness about “Child Brides”, which is a global problem that extends beyond the borders of Turkey.

The workshop kicked off at Sabancı Center on February 11, with the participation of the Chairman of Sabancı Foundation Board of Trustees, Ms. Güler Sabancı;Girls Not Brides Global Coordinator, Ms. Lakshmi Sundaram; and the Program Coordinator of Pakistani NGO Blue Veins, Mr. Qamar Naseem.

“We take our efforts to the global scale”

Chairman of Sabancı Foundation Board of Trustees, Ms. Güler Sabancı emphasized Sabancı Foundation’s longstanding efforts to promote the rights of women and girls: “We aim to improve women’s participation in the community through the programs we launched in partnership with the UN, as well as the support we provide to non-governmental organizations within the scope of our Social Development Grant Program. We touched more than 360,000 lives, including those of child brides, via 62 projects we supported up until now. We take our efforts to the global scale by hosting this workshop, which aims to attract attention across the globe and encourage participants to join forces against Child Brides.” Ms. Güler Sabancı indicated that 32% of Turkish women are married under the age of 18 and approximately 38,000 girls across the world are forced to give up their childhood every day, and continued: “Children step into marriage  at  an  age  when they  are   supposed  to   play; they

become wives and mothers at an age when they are supposed to be at school. They are wounded both physically and emotionally and suffer from the complications of labor at a young age. They are subject to domestic violence and deprived of all sorts of economic and social rights, they lack education which is the most fundamental human right. We need to persevere in our attempt to solve this sensitive problem and mobilize all segments of the community around this issue.” 

“Child Brides are voiceless, vulnerable and among the world’s most isolated individuals”

Presenting after Güler Sabancı, Girls Not Brides Global Coordinator Lakshmi Sundaram said, “Child marriage is a global problem that affects approximately 14 million girls every year. It hampers every aspect of a girl’s development. Child brides are voiceless, vulnerable and among the world’s most isolated individuals.”

Lakshmi Sundaram highlighted the fact that child brides have been neglected by the international community and continued: “We need to speak out about the impact that child marriage has on girls’ lives and we need to act now.”

Lakshmi Sundaram emphasized that child marriage is a complex problem, which can only be addressed with collective action, and added: “Home to some exciting and innovative efforts to end child marriage, Turkey has the potential to be a major influence in bringing this practice to an end. With a key role in shaping new development goals for the global community, Turkey could ensure that these goals include child marriage as an indicator of the welfare of adolescent girls”.

“What we learn at this workshop will help us strengthen our voice”

Mr. Qamar Naseem, Program Coordinator at the non-governmental organization Blue Veins remarked: “Turkey is close to the heart of the people of Pakistan: our people know about Turkey and are inspired by it. If Turkey takes a lead in addressing child marriage and shows that the practice can and should end, the effects will be felt not only by girls in Turkey but millions of girls beyond its borders.”

Mr. Naseem stated that participating in the “We can End Child Marriage Together: Sharing Lessons from Other Countries” workshop is a unique opportunity to meet and learn from other organizations that are tackling child marriage and added: “For an organization like mine, working in rural Pakistan, the opportunity to meet people from around the world facing the same challenges as us is very limited. This workshop is a one-of-a-kind opportunity. What we learn at this workshop will strengthen our voice.”

The workshop will continue for 3 days

49 non-governmental organisations from across Africa, South Asia, Europe and America, who are members of “Girls Not Brides: Global Partnership to End Child Marriage”, will attend the “We Can End Child Marriage Together: Sharing Lessons From Other Countries” workshop.

Supported by Sabancı Foundation, the workshop will enable Girls Not Brides members to cooperate and contribute to the development of social policies and programs at the global scale.

During the three-day workshop, participants will have the opportunity to share their experiences in addressing child marriage and discuss potential solutions to this complex problem.

Güler Sabancı announced Sabancı Foundation’s commitment for child brides last year

Last year Ms. Sabancı joined the annual meeting held by the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) founded by the former US President Bill Clinton. In her speech at the CGI meeting, Ms. Sabancı emphasized the commitment of Sabancı Foundation to support “Child Brides”.

Ms. Güler Sabancı also made a commitment to support capacity building and sharing of experiences between institutions through Girls Not Brides, a coalition of over 200 non-governmental organisations across more than 40 countries.