Giving Compass' Take:

• Global Citizen explores how charities in Malawi are helping underaged girls forced into marriage get an education and expand their opportunities.

• The bigger issue is with the patriarchy — and there is no easy fix for that. But nonprofits dedicated to gender equity should examine what's being done in Malawi and how it might be expanded or scaled.

• Here are the far-reaching economic impacts of child marriage.

Cecilia Amos was just 16 when she fell pregnant. Her partner promised to marry her but instead he left after she gave birth.

That was a year ago and, unable to continue her schooling in the small town of Nkando 45 kms (28 miles) southeast of Malawi's commercial capital Blantyre, she dropped out.

"My parents were angry at me, of course, but later on they accepted the situation," said Amos, the third of seven children.

Had her partner not left, Amos would have joined Malawi's ranks of young brides, which are among the highest in the world. The United Nations children's agency UNICEF says 9 percent of Malawian girls are married by 15, and one in two by 18.

U.N. Women says the practice carries significant costs as it "condemns girls to a vicious cycle of poverty", forces them to miss out on school, and puts them at greater risk of violence.

It also raises the chance of falling pregnant. The National Statistics Office says nearly 30 percent of girls aged 15-19 are either pregnant or have given birth. Teenagers comprise up to 30 percent of maternal deaths in Malawi.

All of which is why the government was widely praised last year for amending a law to raise the minimum age for marriage to 18 from 15.

Read the full article about education helping child brides by Charles Pensulo at Global Citizen.