Giving Compass' Take:

• Global Citizen highlights six women activists who are fighting child marriage in their countries in Africa.

• Twelve million girls in Africa are forced into marriage before they’re 18 years old. How can donors provide support? 

• Here are 7 ways the world got closer to ending child marriage in 2018. 

Child marriage remains one of the biggest challenges faced by girls around Africa. At the moment, there are 12 million girls who are forced into marriage before they’re 18 years old — which UNICEF says is the minimum age girls have to be before they can become brides.

Even more worrying, a report by United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) predicts that 140 million girls around the world will be married before their 18th birthday over the next 10 years if nothing is done to stop child marriages.

As well as forcing girls away from their families, and often at the cost of continuing their education, child marriage can also lead to “early pregnancy and social isolation, interrupting her schooling, limiting her opportunities for career and vocational advancement,” according to UNICEF.

Girls who become wives while they are still teenagers also have a higher risk of experiencing domestic violence, according to global partnership Girls Not Brides.

Read the full article about ending child marriage by Itumeleng Letsoalo at Global Citizen.