Project Title: Ending FGC in The Gambia

Location: The Gambia

Grant Amount: $50,000

Grantee Website: www.safehandsforgirls.org

Areas of Impact: Gender Equality, Health

Mission of Safe Hands for Girls
The mission of Safe Hands for Girls is to help end the practice of Female Genital Cutting, as well as other forms of violence against girls and women and abuses of women’s rights, through programs and activities that address the many factors that perpetuate these conditions.

Summary
The project’s main goal is to help end FGC by changing the perceptions and beliefs about FGC among the Gambian population through education, awareness and advocacy aimed at 1) young people as future parents; 2) religious leaders and ethnic community elders; and 3) parents, as well as the population at large.

Why We Love This
We love this project because the issue of FGC continues to be a challenge in certain communities. This project has a charismatic founder with a compelling personal story who has achieved a lot in a short time, including working to make FGC illegal in The Gambia. The project has good collaborators and is working on changing deep rooted cultural beliefs.