 Greetings on International Women's Day 2019. We are almost one-fifth of the way through the 21st century, and yet, some outdated challenges persist. One of these is the wide prevalence of child, early and forced marriage. What are we doing to prevent this? With support from the governments of Canada and Australia, Kaul has been working with partners in five countries, and these are Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Mozambique and Tanzania, to skill girls for livelihoods so that child, early and forced marriage can be prevented. Let me share the stories of three girls with you. Sumayya Khatun from Bangladesh is 14 years and dropped out of school in grade 8. She enrolled in a call-supported training program, but was suddenly absent for several days, and the reason was that her parents had arranged her marriage. The community tried to persuade Sumayya's parents to stop this union, and her father was very angry at first, but when he realized that he could be sentenced to two years' imprisonment or have to pay a huge fine according to the child marriage restraint law in Bangladesh, he relented and has now let her join class 9. This shows the importance of laws and legislation, and the role the community has in effective implementation. The second story is from India. Rupali dropped out of school when she was in grade 9. She enrolled in financial literacy classes and opened her own savings account. She received training in goat rearing and artificial insemination. Today, she's known as a goat doctor and earns her livelihood through artificially inseminating goats. Rupali intends to buy a smartphone so that she can use it to market her services and access information to improve her practice. Today, girls know that with hard work and perseverance, they can achieve their dreams, and there has to be no limit to these. The third story is from Mozambique, where this is Natalia whose parents couldn't afford to send her to school, and when she was 9, a wealthy man offered to pay her school fees. When she turned 17, the donor came back and wanted his investment from the parents but having no money or assets. Her parents allowed the man to marry her. A journey of torture and violence followed. After having two children, she decided to leave her husband out of fear for their lives and enrolled in a call-supported training which taught her problem-solving skills as well as technical skills in food and nutrition. Natalia says, and let me quote, I am confident that I will raise my children differently from the way my parents raised me, thinking that marriage is the only solution to poverty for girls." Opportunities for skills development are providing a way out of this vicious cycle of poverty and violence. UN Women has put forward the theme of Think Equal, Build Smart, Innovate for Change for International Women's Day this year. As we can see from these examples, the girls are now thinking smart, building better lives for themselves, their families and communities, and inspiring other girls. Innovations such as mobile training centers and both schools have helped us to reach the last girl in the queue and change the thinking in the community. What can each one of us, both women and men, do to ensure that our girls go to school and have happy childhoods? Let us all become champions and advocates. Let us ensure that the minimum age of marriage for every girl everywhere is 18 years because in some countries it's 14, some it's 16. Each one of us needs to be vigilant and play a proactive role in safeguarding the childhood and dignity of our girls. Let us take this pledge today.