Last Mile4D was established in 2014 and focuses on projects for women's and girls' rights-to-health, safety and freedom from gender-based violence. This project will eradicate female genital mutilation (FGM) in Western Kenya by providing ongoing educational workshops for 1,000 girls, parents and community elders on the harmful effect of FGM. Trained community workers will use VPack to register girls ages of 9-15 in schools and will provide them with real time intervention to safety and shelter.
According to World Health Organization, FGM is a global problem, spreading with migration, and affecting 3 million girls a year - one every 10 seconds - and is the leading cause of school dropout for girls. It is a harmful practice causing medical complications, such as infection and maternal deaths and it is a blatant violation of the girls' rights to health and safety. In 2016 UNICEF reported FGM is ongoing with significant scale and the need to intensify efforts to eliminate this practice.
We run a yearly 10-month education program that gives voice to the girls age (9-15) at-risk of FGM. We monitor their school attendance, knowledge of the danger of FGM, level of confidence to act against it, and the girls' real-time situation related to it. Each community receives informative education regarding FGM. We created VPack4Development (V4D), a comprehensive online platform that allows us to collect & store data, monitor & release early warning alert detecting someone in danger of FGM.
The lives of 1,000s of girls, their families & community - in other words thousands of people - will be drastically altered, all from the knowledge gained about the negative effects of FGM and its health, psychological & socio-economic effects on girls. The project will empower everyone to resist societal pressure to conduct FGM. The 1,000s girls will stay in school, have control over their bodies & will reach for higher educational goals with economic opportunities to pull them out of poverty.
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