UK donates £50m to African-led programmes fighting FGM

15-year-old Malak stopped girls in her community from undergoing FGM after reporting a midwife
15-year-old Malak stopped girls in her community from undergoing FGM after reporting a midwife Credit: DfID

The UK is leading the international fight to stamp out female genital mutilation with the largest ever investment into grassroots programmes in Africa dedicated to ending the dangerous practice.

International development secretary Penny Mordaunt has announced an extra £50 million in UK aid to support programmes in the community, such as girls’ clubs in schools.

The department hopes that such grassroots campaigns will shift the perception of FGM in many African countries so it is no longer viewed as a normal rite of passage but as a harmful practice.

The World Health Organization defines FGM as any procedure involving partial or total removal of the female external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.

It usually takes place any time up to the age of 15 and, according to data from children’s charity Unicef, 200 million girls and women alive today have undergone the procedure. 

While rates of FGM have fallen dramatically over the last 30 years, particularly in East and North Africa, the procedure is still widespread in some countries. In Somalia, for example 97 per cent of women and girls aged 15 to 19 have been cut.

And population growth in countries where the procedure is widespread means that while rates may be falling, absolute numbers of girls undergoing FGM may actually rise.

The UK hopes that the £50m investment will inspire other donors to join the African-led fight to wipe out FGM by 2030.

Ms Mordaunt said: “Somewhere in the world, every seven seconds, a girl is at risk of FGM. Inspirational, courageous African women are leading efforts to end the practice in their own countries, and thanks to them, more communities are starting to abandon the practice.

“But progress is at a critical juncture and we must work to protect the millions of girls that are still at risk of being cut. We also can’t end FGM in the UK without ending it globally.”

DFID will urge governments to outlaw FGM and work with religious leaders to dispel the myth that it is a religious practice.

In Sudan, six out of 18 states have passed legislation outlawing FGM and the Sudanese Midwifery Council has brought in new rules to ban midwives from carrying out the procedure.

But while 28 countries in Africa have banned the practice there have been very few prosecutions.

A UK-funded project in Sudan, Saleema, has been working with women and girls to raise awareness of FGM and the risks it carries. Girls wear a Saleema headscarf to show their pride in not being cut. 

10-year-old Asia, with her mother Asmahan Obaid Hamad, wearing her Saleema headscarf
10-year-old Asia, with her mother Asmahan Obaid Hamad, wearing her Saleema headscarf Credit: DfID

Malak, 15, has been cut but now campaigns to stop FGM, even reporting a midwife who was performing the procedure, preventing seven girls from undergoing the barbaric practice.

“I heard that mothers were gathering and saying they wanted to cut their daughters. They had brought a midwife from outside the village. Immediately I went to report this to my teacher. He reported this to the authorities who intervened and reported the midwife to the police.

"I felt a strong drive to save these girls as I have seen so many girls suffer around me.”

Unicef child protection specialist Margaret Banjo welcomed the UK government’s donation, adding that by 2030 a third of all births will be in the 30 countries where FGM is most prevalent.

“FGM is a violation of human rights and leaves girls at risk of infection, disease, childbirth complications, and even death. While great progress has been made over the last three decades, without far more intensive action, hundreds of millions more girls will suffer unnecessary harm,” she said.

Anne Quesney, senior women’s rights advocacy officer at ActionAid, said the UK’s investment in grassroots organisations was important.

“From our work in nine African countries, we have seen how this life-threatening practice not only impacts on girls lives and health, it limits their futures. Many girls never return to school and are forced into early marriage, for example.

“However, focusing on FGM alone is not enough. Violence against women and girls is one of the most widespread human rights abuses, affecting millions of women and girls worldwide and it happens because of deep rooted beliefs that they are inferior to men.”

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