15/09/2026
Using Radio to Challenge Child Marriage in Torit, South Sudan
Girls can make their voices heard when they have access to a microphone. Girls in Torit, South Sudan, are utilizing community radio to challenge damaging gender conventions, start discussions about child marriage, and motivate their communities to support girls' futures.
Many girls may have few opportunities to talk candidly about problems that affect their lives. In South Sudan, girls are still subject to social, cultural, and financial influences that may force them into marriage before they are ready. Child marriage is still a major problem.
However, girls in Torit are not merely waiting for adults to represent them. G.L.O.W. Club members are taking their discussions outside of normal club meetings and onto the radio through local GLOW Clubs.
The girls map out problems that impact them, have discussions about them in their clubs, and create messages that they want their communities to hear. They then take these discussions to radio, where their opinions can be heard by parents, youth, community members, and other relevant stakeholders, with the help of their mentors and partners.
The girls spoke about child marriage, its causes and effects, and the value of letting girls make decisions about their futures throughout the radio sessions. The girls use radio to promote conversation and pose questions rather than just telling their communities what to think.
Why should a girl's marriage force her to drop out of school?
When a girl is forced into an early marriage, what happens to her dreams?
How can communities and parents safeguard girls and help them finish their education?
These discussions provide listeners a chance to consider ideas and behaviors that are frequently taken for granted.
Members of their GLOW Clubs debate the subject, exchange their viewpoints and experiences, look for important messages, and determine what they want to say. The girls' confidence, public speaking abilities, and leadership are all enhanced by this preparation.
This strategy is crucial since the girls are leaders, advocates, and content producers rather than just information consumers. One of the key messages emerging from the girls' conversations is that a girl's future should be bigger than marriage. Girls deserve the opportunity to remain in school, develop their talents, pursue careers, and make informed decisions about their futures.
The girls use the radio sessions to highlight how child marriage can interrupt education and limit opportunities. UNICEF similarly notes that child marriage is closely linked to girls' loss of educational and economic opportunities and can prevent them from reaching their full potential.
By speaking about these issues publicly, the girls are challenging the idea that decisions about their lives should be made without their voices being heard. Every radio session gives the girls more than an opportunity to speak. It gives them practical leadership skills.
Ending child marriage requires more than telling girls to say no. It requires communities to examine the social norms, economic pressures, and gender inequalities that allow the practice to continue. Through their radio sessions, the club members are helping shift the conversation from “When should a girl get married?” to “What opportunities should a girl have before she becomes an adult?”
They are asking their communities to see girls not as burdens or future brides, but as students, leaders, entrepreneurs, professionals, innovators, and change-makers.
