In rural Bangladesh, a group of teen girls chat together on mats under the hot sun with a significant purpose: to promote gender equality in their community.  

This is World Vision Bangladesh’s Girl Power Group, a local child protection group of volunteers—one of many being run by the REACTS-IN project. Each group gathers adolescent girls together to learn essential skills and knowledge about women’s rights, nutrition, child protection, and sexual and reproductive health. Guided by a World Vision-trained facilitator, this group provides a supportive environment for young women and girls to unite in addressing gender discrimination. 

For group participant Sultana, 16, her journey to gaining confidence and learning about her rights as a girl began with her aunt. As the only girl in her family, she encountered opposition from her father when she sought to pursue an education. As a woman who benefitted from going to school, Sultana’s aunt pushed her father to send Sultana to school.  

“If my aunt wasn’t there, I couldn’t continue my studies,” she said. “If my aunt hadn’t taken care of us like her own children, then I wouldn’t have been able to reach grade 9.” 

From facing financial and mobility restrictions to eating last during mealtimes, Sultana has seen firsthand the discrimination women and girls face in her community—and she’s eager to be a part of positively changing the experience of girls through the Girl Power Group. 

“There are many discriminations against every girl in our village,” she said. “There is no freedom in our village.” 

Stopping child marriage takes a team 

The group’s facilitator, Maliha, knows all too well the harmful social practices and norms of their community. 

Girls in their village face a high risk of child, early and forced marriage, an event that can have devastating ripple effects in a girl’s life, such as high-risk pregnancy and loss of education. Maliha recalls one story from her community: one girl’s marriage at 14 years old led to a high-risk pregnancy and malnourished infancy for her first child. 

“If they had been educated about these things at the beginning,” Maliha said, “then this suffering wouldn’t have occurred.” 

Bangladesh is one of the world’s top regions affected by child marriage, with 51 per cent of Bangladeshi girls marrying before the age of 18 years old.