In Salmanguda, a child-led network tracks at-risk girls, supports families, all while stopping dozens of early marriages

Koraput, Odisha: Every month, Mamata Jani (15) and her team of teenage volunteers set out with hand-drawn maps of their village. The colourful charts might resemble a school project, but for the children of Salmanguda they are a serious tool: a system for tracking girls at risk of child marriage.

Teenage volunteers drawing the colourful maps (Photo - Prativa Ghosh, 101Reporters)

What began in 2021 as a monitoring exercise introduced by the grassroots group South Odisha Voluntary Action (SOVA) has grown into a community-led child protection network. “Since then, the children have stopped 47 marriages across 12 villages in the Salmanguda panchayat,” said Padlam Khora, SOVA’s grassroots coordinator, who monitors the club’s work. The data is maintained by the Mahatma Gandhi Child Club and validated by SOVA’s monitoring team.

“This is by far the most effective prevention system we have seen in Koraput, because it is run by children themselves,” Khora added. 

The children have been trained through child rights workshops alongside local Child Protection Committees.

The club has identified 156 “high-vulnerability” households. These are homes where children had dropped out of school, families faced financial stress, or parents had openly discussed marriage plans. “Of these, 89 households have now been moved to a ‘safe’ status,” explained Sabita Nayak (17), who manages the mapping system. Currently, the network monitors 847 children, with each child’s education status, family circumstances, and marriage risk updated monthly.

“We meet every Tuesday evening at 6 pm in our bal sabha [children’s assembly],” said Jani, the club’s elected coordinator. “We review our maps, discuss new cases, and plan our interventions for the week.”

Young boys and girls participating in the club meeting (Photo - Prativa Ghosh, 101Reporters)

The system relies on meticulous documentation. Using coloured pencils and chart paper, the teenagers have created detailed village maps. “We use green dots for safe households, yellow for ‘watch closely,’ and red when immediate intervention is needed,” said Nayak. “When we see a girl dropping out of school or a family talking about marriage, we immediately mark it red and act. Our maps are updated every two weeks, so we know exactly which families to focus on.”

The network has 23 teenage volunteers aged 13 to 18. Most are from Salmanguda, but they also cover nearby hamlets such as Lauriguda and Hatapada, guiding local child club members. Each volunteer monitors 15-20 households, tracking school attendance, financial stress, and social pressures that often precede child marriages.

Members of the child club are presenting their findings from mapping exercise (Photo - Prativa Ghosh, 101Reporters)

The heart of the system

One of the club’s first successes was Daimati Jani, now 17. “In 2022, my parents were arranging my marriage because we needed money for my brother’s treatment,” she recalled. “The Child Club members came to our house five times, spoke to my parents, and even connected us with government schemes for medical support. Today I’m in Class 11 and want to become a teacher.”

Club members said they repeatedly counselled Daimati’s parents, highlighted the health and legal risks of child marriage, and together with the village sarpanch helped the family access the Ayushman Bharat health scheme, which was previously Biju Swasthya Kalyan, which covered her brother’s kidney treatment. Relieved of financial pressure, the family dropped the marriage plan.

At the heart of the system is the weekly bal sabha, which functions like a village panchayat. The 23 members elect a coordinator, secretary, and action teams, maintain records, debate strategies, and vote on how to use a small fund raised through community contributions.

“We run our meetings just like a panchayat, we keep minutes, vote, and make action plans,” said Debendra Badanayak (16), secretary of the Mahatma Gandhi Child Club.

“The bal sabha taught us that our voices matter,” added Laxman Badanayak (16), another elected leader. “We’ve learned to speak confidently with adults, negotiate with families, and even approach government officials when needed.”

When the teenagers identify a potential child marriage, they first gather information through peer networks. “Since other young people are often aware of such plans beforehand, the information quickly reaches our child club and adolescent group,” explained Nayak. They then call urgent meetings to assess the situation before approaching the Child Protection Committee. “We don’t go there to argue or judge,” said Jani. “We sit with the parents, listen to their problems, and try to understand why they think marriage is the only solution for their daughter.”

If counselling fails, the case is escalated to the Village Level Child Protection Committee (VLCPC). The club’s main contact is Ramesh Khora, convener of the Salmanguda VLCPC. Committee members visit the parents while teenagers mobilise village elders, women’s self-help groups, and respected community members to reinforce the message. “Out of fear of the law, most parents agree to postpone the marriage until their children are legally adults,” said Rohit Khillo (18), a former child club member now working as a youth volunteer.

When families need more than persuasion, the teenagers connect them to government schemes, scholarships, skill development programs, or livelihood support with guidance from SOVA. If all else fails, cases are escalated legally, through Childline (1098) or the District Child Protection Unit and Child Welfare Committee. According to SOVA’s monitoring records, around 60% of cases are resolved through direct counselling by the teenagers, 20% at the VLCPC or community engagement stage, and the remaining 20% require intervention from Childline or legal authorities.

Club members discuss the child marriage concerns with anganwadi didis (Photo - Prativa Ghosh, 101Reporters)

Challenges

Challenges are never far away. The teenagers face resistance from families, logistical hurdles in reaching remote households, and the emotional strain of intervening in sensitive situations. “Sometimes parents get angry and tell us we’re too young to understand their problems,” said Jani. “We’ve learned to be patient, to listen first, and to come back with solutions, not just criticism.”

The Child Club’s most defining moment came when traditional methods weren’t enough. During a monthly meeting, members discovered that a minor girl from their village had been missing for several days. After visiting her parents and conducting inquiries, they learned she had eloped with a young man from Lauriguda and had been secretly married at a relative’s house. “We refused to accept this as inevitable,” Jani said. The teenagers gathered evidence and presented it to the Village Level Child Protection Committee, which escalated the matter to the District Child Protection Unit and Child Welfare Committee. Within two days, the boy was arrested and later sentenced to ten years in prison, the first time in the region that children had successfully used the legal system to defend a peer.

“The district administration appreciated our work, and the news spread to neighbouring areas. It motivated us tremendously,” said Sabita Paik (17). Village elder Hema Jani said, “Earlier, we thought early marriage protected our girls. Even Udulia and Jhikka [traditional systems for forced marriage] were part of our culture. But when the children showed us the reality through their maps and stories, we understood we were actually harming them. Now we use religious gatherings to advocate for girls’ education.”

The results have shown a shift. Where 12-15 child marriages once occurred annually in each village, not a single child marriage has been reported across the 35-village cluster in the past two years. The child clubs have federated at the panchayat level, organising campaigns, puppet shows, narrowcasting sessions, and peer-to-peer education, with participation from PRI members and tribal leaders. “We’ve had to call Childline only four times in the past two years,” said Sabita. “It’s always our last option because we prefer to solve things within the community.” Sarpanch Daita Khosla added, “These children know every family’s situation better than we do. When they bring a case to the panchayat, we take it seriously. They’ve stopped marriages that even we didn’t know were being planned.”

The Pradhan family’s story illustrates the teenagers’ impact. In early 2023, financial distress led them to consider marrying off their 16-year-old daughter, Sita. “The Child Club members visited us repeatedly,” said Sita’s mother, Kamala Pradhan. “They helped us access a self-help group loan, got Sita enrolled in a skill development program, and showed us how her education could improve our family’s future. Today, Sita is preparing for her Class 12 exams.”

The teenagers have documented similar transformations in 89 households, where families have shifted from viewing education as a luxury to seeing it as essential for their daughters’ futures. Their model is now being replicated across the Koraput district, with 127 villages expressing interest in creating child-led tracking systems. The Odisha government has officially recognised the approach, and discussions are underway to integrate it into the state’s child protection framework.

The impact extends beyond preventing child marriages. School enrollment in Salmanguda has increased by 34% since 2021, with girls’ enrollment jumping by 52%. Records show that 78 girls who would have been married are now in school, with 23 planning to pursue higher education. “We’ve changed how our community thinks about childhood,” said 18-year-old Rohit Khillo. “Parents now consult us before making decisions about their children’s education. We’ve become part of the village’s decision-making structure.”

The tracking system has also identified and addressed 31 cases of child labour and eight cases of children at risk of trafficking, demonstrating its wider potential for community-led child protection. Yet challenges remain. The teenagers continue to face limited resources, resistance from some traditional families, and the emotional burden of handling complex cases. They have also noted gaps in reaching the most marginalised households.

Cover photo - Child club members are doing the mapping exercise (Photo - Prativa Ghosh, 101Reporters)