12,000 girls are at risk of FGM every day this year in the 30 countries where it is most prevalent. Donors called on to partner with and support grassroots African activists.
Over 200 million women around the world have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM), with new data from UNICEF showing that 4.4 million girls are at risk this year alone (12,000 each day), rising to 4.6 million per year by 2030. However, The Five Foundation’s internal research shows that only $1-2 is available in funding for each woman or girl affected by it – and next to nothing reaches the front lines, where change is happening.
This International Zero Tolerance Day To End FGM, The Five Foundation is officially hosting the second annual Africa’s Female Future Summit in Central London. This one day event will be attended by special guest, former UK Prime Minister, Theresa May MP, and around two dozen donors including Gates Foundation, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, Firebird Foundation, Co-Impact and Estee Lauder Foundation. It aims to spur a new global alliance and commitment to fund grassroots activism on the African continent to end FGM and all forms of violence against girls.
“Donors have talked a lot about localisation and giving power and funding to grassroots activists working to end issues such as FGM and child marriage. We hope that this year’s Summit will see new alliances and partnerships form between foundations and governments to do something transformational for African girls. We cannot keep having the same conversations year after year. We have the evidence of what works. Activists are working together on the ground and building themselves up like never before. We just need to get funding in the right places to protect the 4.4 million girls at risk this year and break down the barriers at the systemic level that have excluded African women from the issues which have affected us most – and which we know how to fix.” – Nimco Ali OBE, CEO, The Five Foundation.
Closer to home, FGM has also affected 137,000 women and girls in England and Wales, an outdated figure based on the 2011 census. The Five Foundation is working to ensure the UK Home Office updates this estimate before the end of 2024, so we have a more accurate picture of where survivors live here.
ABOUT THE FIVE FOUNDATION
The Five Foundation operates as a unique hub of systemic change for African women and girls to achieve Global Goal 5. Founded in 2019, we regularly convene other foundations and high net worth individuals, senior government decision-makers, research organisations and the corporate sector, to change the way evidence-based grassroots activism is funded on the continent.
The Foundation has an unparalleled track record of working to advocate for governments and major international media to engage in dramatic change on this issue. In 2020, Sudan banned FGM as a result of our advocacy – a country where nearly 9 out of every 10 women have been affected. We have engaged international media on various FGM cases in Egypt, Kenya and around the world, and continue to ensure it is banned in Somaliland and Sierra Leone. The Five Foundation’s co-founders have also led much of the recent progress on the issue in the UK over the last decade, including the major media engagement and changes to laws and policies – most recently ensuring the inclusion of FGM in the Children’s Act.
The Five Foundation’s donor collaborative vehicle, The Five Fund, is currently focused on funding evidence-based activism to a network of Kenyan grassroots leaders. Partnering with local activists, the fund has already protected thousands of girls from FGM.
ABOUT FGM (UNICEF, 2024)
- In 2024, nearly 4.4 million girls – or more than 12,000 each day – are at risk of FGM in 30 countries where it is prevalent – most of which are on the African continent.
- There are over 200 million girls and women alive today who are survivors of FGM.
- Today, a girl is about one third less likely to be subjected to FGM than she was 30 years ago.
- 1 in 4 survivors underwent FGM by a health worker.
- Daughters of FGM survivors are at significantly higher risk of undergoing it compared to daughters of women who have not undergone FGM.