Justice Conference Asia: Reimagining Communities

Komola from Bangladesh is working towards an end to child marriage and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in her community. And she won’t rest till it's done.

Komola, 38, lives in the Chandpai region of Bangladesh and is married with one son.

A different way…

Komola’s family arranged her marriage when she was just 16 years old, at which point any chance of education came to an end. She was a wife now, there was no money to continue studying, and that was simply how it was.

But change came for Komola when she was invited to attend Transforming Communities training at her local church, run by Tearfund partner Shalom.

With the right support, people in extreme poverty can turn their lives around for good. Transforming Communities is not about giving short-term aid. It’s about equipping local churches to lead long-term change.

Tearfund trains churches to work with the local community to identify resources as well as challenges, and develop lasting solutions. This approach supports communities to rewrite their own stories and build a future filled with hope and opportunity.

The church bringing change

Komola’s training and the skills she developed led to her becoming a key leader in the community. She realised the church needed to take the first step to support the community and bring about the change they wanted to see.

Along with others from her church group, they made a plan to help solve many of the community's problems and to look after their neighbours. They also started working together with the community on issues of SGBV and reducing child marriage.

‘If we know that child marriage is taking place somewhere, we go there and explain about it. In our meetings, in the gender training of Shalom, we raise these issues, we take classes on adolescent health for young boys and girls.’ says Komola. ‘In this way, we try to help a girl so that she can progress in life. We want the young girls not to make the mistakes we have made.’

Around the world, churches are reimagining their communities and giving people the tools to thrive, not just survive. Tearfund currently works with around 25,000 churches in more than 50 countries, but we have a bold vision to be working with 250,000 churches by 2030. And you can help make it happen.

*sexual harassment, sexual assault or other forms of violence toward girls who don't have husbands.