Plan child marriage campaigner wins United Nations award

A young man who is taking practical steps to end child marriage in Bangladesh, supported by Plan, has won a special United Nations award. 18 year old Keshab works with other young people, persuading the adults in their communities that girls’ education is important and that forcing their daughters to marry has many negative consequences.

He has received the ‘Youth Courage Award for Education’ given away for the first time by the UN Special Envoy for Global Education, former UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.  Keshab is one of seven young people – and the only boy – to win the award, introduced by the UN to recognise young people who have shown courage in promoting the cause of education.

The winners were announced on 12 July 2013, Malala Day, at the United Nations office in New York.

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Echoing Malala's voice: Youth take over Sierra Leone's national parliament

As youth from all over the world today join Malala Yousafzai in taking over the United Nations General Assembly in New York, thousands of miles away, in Freetown, Sierra Leone, a group of 50 young people between the ages of 11 and 18 are setting out to do the same in their national parliament.

24 boys and 26 girls, from communities where Plan works all over Sierra Leone have been inspired by Malala’s call to action on education, giving a voice to the 66 million other girls who, like she once was, are denied an education.

They too want to raise awareness by advocating draft resolutions that directly fall in line with the Millennium Development Goal’s objective to achieve universal primary education.

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