b'Soroptimist InternationalReport for the High-Level Political Forumof human trafficking as well as a form of gender- early and child marriage as a way out of poverty and basedviolence.Afterthedaughterofoneofthesaw few other options than to keep these traditions. weavers involved in the Lombok Recovery ProjectSince running these community sessions, SI Jakarta became a child bride, SI Jakarta decided they had tohave been approached by a number of women in take action, and used their connections within thethe village, seeking advice for alternatives to child communitytoraiseawarenessandidentifymarriageandhowtoavoidthisfatefortheir community-based solutions to resolve this problemdaughters. that devastates peoples lives.To complement these awareness raising activities, ThefirststepsSI Jakarta tookwastocollaborateSI Jakarta used a capacity building component of the with the Titian Foundation, a partner in the Lombokproject to ensure that the young women and girls of Recovery Project, to initiate community awarenessRebuk Satu had the skills they needed to improve programmes and to work with the women and girlstheirlivesandsocio-economicposition.By ofRebukSatu.Intheseawarenesssessions,SIproviding educational and training opportunities, a Jakartasharedinformationabouttheimpactsoflack of available education or concerns about how a childmarriage,showinghowthosewhobecomewomanmaysupportherselfwillnolongerbe child brides are more likely to experience violence,reasons to marry a girl off early or as a child. To poorer health outcomes, have higher maternal andexpandthispartoftheprogramme,SIJakarta is infant mortality rates, and leave education early andexploring the possibility of providing scholarships to with fewer qualifications, as well as the impact uponteenage girls to support their staying in school, as the human rights of girls who are forced into childeconomic pressures can contribute to early drop-andearlymarriage.Earlyin2020,SIJakartasoutrates.Thesescholarshipsandsupportwould Project Field Officer was able to establish a youthalso be provided to girls who are already married, so discussion group, which meant young people in thethattheytoocancompletetheireducationand village could engage with a range of social issues,learn key skills which will help them support their includingchildmarriage.Itwasthroughthesefamilies. sessions that many of the teenage boys in the village sawearlymarriageasacrucialissue.TheboysWith this knowledge and experience, to recognise shared that they did not want to be married youngWorld Day Against Trafficking in Persons, SI Jakarta eitherthey felt there were inexperienced and ill- hostedawebinarontheHumanTraffickingof equipped to take on the role of a caring husbandWomenandGirlsinIndonesia.Thiseventwas and father at such a young age. Through all theseattendedby176people,andwascarriedoutin differentmechanismsandformsofcommunitycollaborationwiththeIndonesianCommission outreach and consultation, SI Jakarta was able toAgainstViolenceTowardsWomen(KOMNAS collect views on how these issues could be tackled.Perempuan)andtheNGOThalitaKum,asboth Many of the women that SI Jakarta worked with saworganisationsarealsoinvolvedincombatting trafficking in Indonesia.The COVID pandemic has exacerbated many of the issues that put girls in jeopardy for being trafficked-poverty, migration, armed conflict, domestic work, and online exploitation. At the same time, the UN and national governments have had to divert their often limited resources away from initiatives to identify, prevent and protect against human trafficking and toward the health crisis instead. Jacqueline Shapiro, SI UN Representative33'