At Genesis House, our safe haven for survivors of sexual exploitation, the girls we meet carry stories that began with a right being taken from them. We have watched what happens when those rights are restored.
This International Day of the Girl, the world is calling for urgent action to end child marriage and invest in girls’ rights. The scale of the problem is stark. More than 12 million girls are married before adulthood every year, roughly one every three seconds, and sub-Saharan Africa has the highest prevalence at 31 per cent. Child marriage pulls girls out of school, exposes them to violence and damages their physical and mental health.
But it is not inevitable. Investment in girls’ education, legal reform and social protection has helped avert an estimated 68 million child marriages over the past 25 years.
That is the principle behind Genesis House. We offer survivors protection, counselling, vocational training, education support and a path back to society, as well as self-belief. For years now, we have supported over 200+ girls and young women, and each graduation ceremony is proof of what a girl can become once she is given the chance.
Keeping girls safe, in school and in charge of their own futures takes more than one organisation. It takes families who challenge harmful norms, communities that protect girls, and leaders who back laws and budgets that put girls first.
At Freedom Foundation Nigeria, we will keep standing with girls, and we invite you to do the same. Raise your voice, challenge the norms that fuel child marriage, and ensure girls are part of the decisions that shape their lives.
Because every girl deserves childhood, and the freedom to choose her own future.
Freedom Foundation Nigeria | info@freedomfoundationng.org