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.