End Female Genital Mutilation in 9 schools, Kenya

Dear Friend and Partner

Greetings! It is so great to connect with you again? How have you been since we last connected? We hope you are doing fantastic.

Over the past months, we have had various school outreaches targeting reaching school children to advocate for the end of female genital mutilation (FGM). As per the popular education model, participation is key in creating change. The model advocates that we understand a social problem from different perspectives of the stakeholders, understand what the solution is according to them, and together work towards solving the problem. We believe young girls are the center of the conversation on ending FGM and the more they are aware that the efforts are in the interest of their safety and well-being, the more they will support.

In this update, we shall give you information on the lessons we have learned from implementing the project of ending Female Genital Mutilation in schools, what we have achieved, the change we are seeing, and our outlook of the future even as we continue with the last quarter of the year.

What we have achieved?So far, we have conducted more than 10 schools outreach focussing on advocating for the end of FGM. In this, we have reached more than 2000 students and at least 50 teachers. Also, in some instances, we took it a notch higher to engage youths as well since they are the generation that we commonly refer to as 'FGM ends with their generation". So far, through this project, we have reached more than 200 youths.

What have we learned? FGM is prevalent because of a lack of information on its health effects on girls and women. With the right information and tools, the locals are willing to abandon the practice, for the safety of girls and women. Another lesson is that participation is key to success. Approaching the community from a point of wanting to understand how we can work together, what everyone's responsibility is, and how we can make a safer and healthier future for girls and women.

What has challenged us so far?We have come across challenges related to the overwhelming need versus what we can offer at our capacity. Because of limited resources, both human and financial, we cannot conduct the outreaches as regularly as we would wish. Nevertheless, we believe that we are on the right track and optimistic that what we are doing with the support you are giving us is positively transforming the community.

Dear Friend, we are thankful that we have you. We are proud of being aligned with your vision for change in the world. We are humbled that you continue to support us. Remember that you can share your work with your friends for them to see the wonderful work you are doing.

Dear Friend and Partner

Greetings from the Hope Foundation for African Women Team!

We are so delighted to report to you what we have been up to since our last updates on ending female genital mutilation in 9 schools.

During the month of April, we conducted a radion show sounding alarm over the secret practice of FGM during the school holiday. The school break was for 2 months and, just like other activists, we were worried that it would derail our efforts and undermine what we have achieved during the school outreaches. Luckily, radio has been a quite strong tool to voice concerns, amplify the voices of the vulnerable who are at risk of the practice, and teach on how to collectively end the practice during the holiday while respecting Covid-19 safety regulations.

On 26th April, Dr. Grace Mose, HFAW Founder, and Director participated in a talk show at Minto FM, a local radio station attached to the Kenya National Broadcaster, Kenya Broadcasting Station. For 2 hours, we spoke at least 40,000 listeners tuning in, about the forms of Female Genital Mutilation that are emerging given the robust campaigns against the practice. We urged the listeners to remain vigilant just as they had been for the past 2 years where more culprits have been reported.

The show was quite successful given the response and questions we received from the listeners. From this, we learnt about other problems going in the community that are as a result of girls undergoing FGM. For example, cases of teenage pregancy are at an all-time high during the holiday season. We have attached the link to the show and live session on Facebook through this link in this report for you to listen to and experience the conversations you are helping have in our community through your support.