Tools and Strategies for Empowering Married Adolescent Girls

Economically, early married girls face limited livelihood opportunities, financial dependence, and poverty. Socially, early marriage disrupts education, violates rights, and perpetuates gender inequality. Health-wise, they suffer from malnutrition, maternal risks, and lack of access to sexual and reproductive health services. Environmentally, child marriage limits participation in community development, excluding girls from decision-making on issues like health, resource use, and resilience. Culturally, harmful norms and stigma further isolate them, sustaining silence around gender-based violence. These intersecting challenges reinforce intergenerational cycles of marginalization, leaving victims of child marriage oppressed.

In Karnataka, India, child marriage persists as a widespread practice, carried out despite being legally prohibited. It is rooted in traditional beliefs; often viewed as a way to secure daughters’ futures, especially when poverty and limited opportunities leave few alternatives. For girls, this means dropping out of school, losing autonomy, and facing health risks from early pregnancies. Many are caught in an in-between space where they are no longer seen as adolescents, yet denied recognition as adults, with little access to education, healthcare, or protection systems. Services often fail to reach them, and local enforcement of child protection laws remains weak. Social norms further reinforce silence, making it difficult for early married girls to speak about violence, neglect, or their aspirations.

The IMAGE Toolkit arises from these layered challenges, acknowledging that prevention-focused strategies are not enough to address the issue of child marriage. It captures how direct services, combined with solidarity-building and advocacy, can break cycles of invisibility and neglect faced by children who are victims of early marriage. By rooting solutions in the lived experiences of early married girls and engaging families, communities, and institutions, the toolkit offers practical strategies and reflective learnings.

The IMAGE program was designed with the understanding that child marriage cannot be tackled by prevention campaigns alone; girls already married need recognition, support and access to development. They cannot be passive beneficiaries but are potential leaders and change agents. It is built on the logic that programs that recognize lived experiences, ensure meaningful participation, and create safe, trauma-informed spaces can enable participants to reclaim agency, challenge harmful norms, and drive systemic change.

The chosen hybrid model, with services combined with empowerment and advocacy, balanced urgent support with long-term transformation.

The IMAGE program produced the following tangible and systemic outcomes:

• reached 17,532 early married girls and 5,782 vulnerable girls across 15 districts in Karnataka;
• prevented 1,134 child marriages, often through early intervention and advocacy;
• facilitated access to health services for 3,000+ early married girls;
• enabled 202 girls to return to education, supported by open schools and scholarships;
• provided vocational training to 3,816 early married girls, with 70% achieving economic independence;
• trained 1,355 early married girls as leaders, equipping them to prevent child marriages, address gender-based violence, and represent their movement in government consultations;
• during the COVID-19 pandemic, movement leaders pivoted to relief work, distributing rations, preventing a surge in child marriages, and strengthening trust in their leadership;
• families began openly supporting daughters-in-law’s education and livelihoods, signalling cultural shifts; and
• policymakers initiated reforms in maternal health outreach and education access.

Shortcomings included initial resistance from families and difficulty identifying hidden early married girls, which delayed enrolment. Legal fears and stigma also posed barriers. However, sustained trust-building, peer networks, and family engagement strategies gradually overcame these challenges.

The following are key lessons from the program and how they can be applied practically:

Programs

Integrated strategies addressing health, education, livelihoods, social protection, and gender-based violence prevention need to be paired with leadership development and grassroots mobilization. Program should adopt a phased approach—meeting immediate needs first to build trust, then transitioning into movement-building and advocacy.

Projects

The Toolkit provides practical, adaptable resources—such as profiling forms, self-assessment tools, and social protection trackers—that strengthen planning, monitoring, and accountability. Projects can replicate IMAGE’s co-facilitator model, where beneficiaries co-lead research and implementation, ensuring relevance and ownership. Regular review and outcome harvesting frameworks further allow projects to remain adaptive and evidence-driven.

Policy

The IMAGE experience highlights that legal prohibitions on child marriage alone are insufficient. Sustainable change requires community-led movements, supported by state institutions and civil society. Platforms like the Karnataka Forum Against Child Marriage illustrate how early married girls can engage directly with policymakers, influence programs on maternal health, education access, and child protection, and hold institutions accountable. Embedding targeted interventions as cross-cutting themes in government programs ensures long-term sustainability.

Practice in the Field

• Engage families early as involving fathers, spouses, and in-laws shifts household norms and fosters supportive environments.
• Invest in peer networks to recruit and inspire, break isolation, and create solidarity.
• Plan sustainability from the start by diversifying funding, providing seed support for movement leaders, and embedding advocacy in program design.
• Leverage evidence with stories by combining data with lived experiences.

Together, these lessons show how IMAGE’s blend of service, advocacy, and movement-building provides a replicable framework for tackling child marriage and empowering vulnerable communities.

IMAGE Toolkit. Transforming Lives - A Toolkit from the Initiative for Married Adolescent Girls Empowerment (IMAGE) Programme’s Journey and Learnings in India.