VAILLANTE: WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO CHANGE social norms around CHILD MARRIAGE?

THE BRIEF

More than 650 million girls worldwide have been married before the age of 18.

Short-form advocacy content can raise awareness, but it rarely shifts the deeply held beliefs and community norms that make child marriage feel inevitable. UNICEF needed something bolder.

THE SOLUTION

Rooftop and UNICEF created Vaillante, a three-part fictional miniseries set in West Africa. It introduced audiences to compelling characters, and captured their attention long enough to challenge the very norms audiences had grown up within. COVID-19 restrictions moved the 24-day shoot to South Africa’s Eastern Cape, where the team, along with many cast members with no prior acting experience, produced three episodes that were rooted in West African life. Rooftop oversaw everything from scripting and casting through to editing, sound design, music composition, and an English-dubbed version to extend its reach.

THE IMPACT

Vaillante premiered at FESPACO and screened at nine international festivals before broadcasting across French-speaking Africa on Canal Plus. It earned multiple awards including Best Cinematography and Best Narrative Film. In focus groups across Mali, Benin, and Sierra Leone, 100% of participants said they would intervene if they heard of a child marriage case, and in Sierra Leone, all participants shifted their view on appropriate marriage age. It also achieved over 60 million social media impressions.

THE SERIES

THE DETAILS