The idea began 6 months ago when Havas Worldwide, an advertising agency, and Child Survival India, an NGO fighting child marriage, began a collaboration to raise awareness on this social issue. "India is home to 40% of the world's child brides, but it is not talked about in public and the media," says Prakhar Jain (27), a communication designer at Havas Worldwide. "We felt that we needed to help raise awareness of this huge social problem, and hence we started this campaign."
The focal point of the campaign is the use of white bindis to protest child marriage. While married women wear red bindis and colourful bindis are commonly used, white bindis are an anomaly. "The white bindi looks striking and makes people ask questions," says Jain. "Through art and fashion, we want to make the white bindi a symbol of soft and peaceful protest against this social evil."
They have campaigned all over India and sold 39,000 white bindis. When a bindi was bought in support for the cause, a bindi was added to a 6ft x 4ft art composition. The final composition is heavily symbolic. Made out of 39,000 bindis - the same number as child marriages taking place daily around the world - the composition is a portrait of a young girl. This 15-year-old girl currently living in a rural village in Jharkhand, and according to Jain is not planning on protesting her imminent engagement. She is emblematic of the many thousands of young girls forced into child marriages. There are 24 million child brides currently in India. 47% of girls are married by the time they are 18.
Pooja, a 16-year old girl from Savda Ghevra, was present at Thursday's presentation and is a shining example of what social change young girls are capable of if given the voice. When she was 15 her parents felt pressured by her grandparents to find a husband for her. Pooja is a part of Child Survival India's Kishori Group, which taught her to find her voice and stand up to her parents. After hearing her explain that she did not feel physically ready for marriage, her parents respected her decision and broke off the engagement. At Thursdays event she said, "If girls speak up, that's when we can make a change," her small frame a contradiction to her strong voice and confident demeanor.
Child Survival India (CSI) is an NGO founded in 1991 and dedicated to changing lives through community-based groups. Setting up workshops in both rural villages and urban slums, CSI strives to teach young women to find their voice and learn about contraceptives and their own sexuality, amongst other things. "Child marriage is the root cause to many other social problems," explains Deepa Bajaj, chief executive of Child Survival India. "It leads to lack of education in girls, declining health, high infant mortality and increased domestic violence, just to name a few. By teaching girls how to speak for themselves and raising awareness in whole communities, we are fighting for an overarching attitude change towards child brides."
The agency hopes to raise funds - by selling white bindis - to help Child Survival India spread its on-ground workshops and child marriage intervention programs to 160 rural villages.
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