Giving Compass' Take:

• Thomson Reuters Foundation details a new study from researchers that urges governments to do more to change the social attitudes around child marriage, or it will take a century to end the practice.

• What roles do international aid organizations and foundations play in this effort? How can we open up more educational opportunities for young girls around the world?

• Meet some of the young activists trying to put an end to child marriage.

It will take 100 years to end child marriage if current trends continue, economists warned [recently], urging governments to spend more on tackling a problem that affects 12 million girls every year.

A study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) found global rates of child marriage were declining so slowly the world would miss a target of eradicating the practice by 2030 by many decades.

It will also miss a goal of eradicating female genital mutilation (FGM) by that date, the OECD said in its Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI).

"Progress in eliminating both practices is too slow as people, including women sometimes, are not ready to abandon them," the OECD said in a statement emailed to the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"Raising awareness should be a key priority of gender-sensitive policies."

Researchers said governments in affected countries needed to do more to change the social attitudes that favor FGM and child marriage.

Read the full article about the urgency to act on child marriage by Isabelle Gerretsen at Thomson Reuters Foundation.