The concern about early marriages is not new and is recognized by governments alike. In attempts to better opportunities for girls, various policy interventions have been tried and tested across the world. Most of these include programs that aim to increase the education attained of girls, which research proves to significantly delay the age at marriage (Duflo et al, 2015). These interventions have been in the form of education subsidies and/or cash transfers such as the Berhane Hewan Program in Ethiopia and Punjab Female School Stipend Program in Pakistan. While helpful in the short term, they may or may not entirely alter the behavioral decision and validation for early marriages that exists in certain cultural norms.

Behavioral decision theory demands a rational decision of the age of marriage for an individual. Many parents will argue that an early marriage is based on rational persuasions rooted in cultural tradition. However, these stem from incomplete information of the consequences of early marriages and a lack of understanding of the greater potential. Therefore, where many policy interventions have taken place, none have been as successful as hoped in generating a permanent behavioral response.

What is required is a change of belief structure, which can only come about through the understanding of the consequences of child marriages. Here, non-profit organizations can play a significant part in the development of societies, raising awareness and understanding, which is a much less costly initiative than education subsidies and cash transfers.

Raising awareness needs to be structured based on beliefs and respective cultures. Some forms of this strategy have been used in developing countries, but has been entirely absent in the developed world. This absence could be rooted in the illusion that child marriages do not exist in the west. One form of acheiving this awareness in the developing countries has been door-to-door visits of lady health workers with pamphlets. Another more recent idea has been to perform moral based theatrical events or plays in the village community. This helps shift beliefs individually and collectively of the village community. For altering beliefs in countries such as the US, a possible avenue is using media in a similar manner as the theatrical plays of the villages in the east.

As completely clear as this may seem, policy and research have not been able to test whether providing more and complete information alters behavior of early marriage across the world, specifically in developing countries. Thus while the simple solution makes sense, evidence does not exist that proves this would be case.  One thing that is certain, a truly committed response is key to reducing this practice.