Local women are trained as Women Extension Workers and Traditional Birth Attendants. Extension Workers act like community social workers – counselling families and raising awareness of girls’ rights – while Birth Attendants focus on safe pregnancy and childbirth. Together, they challenge FGM and child marriage and intervene at critical moments to protect girls.
FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION IN 2026
An obvious wrong has as immediate solution.
Yes, I'll help end FGM.
Female Genital Mutilation continues to put girls at risk across regional Ethiopia. Your gift today can help our project partner APDA work with communities to prevent FGM, empower women and protect girls from harm.
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WHAT YOUR DONATIONS DO
Solution in action
For such long-held and deeply ingrained traditions, change must be rooted in education and happen with communities, not against them.
Training local women
Workshops for leaders
In many rural areas, clan and religious leaders hold more authority than formal law. Intensive workshops bring these leaders together to examine the medical, legal and human impacts of FGM and child marriage, build consensus against them, and equip leaders to champion safer, rights-respecting norms in their own communities.
Media awareness
FM radio ads and film screenings in the markets spread educational messages far beyond the reach of roads and clinics. By repeating clear, trusted information in local languages, media campaigns help shift attitudes over time, grow awareness of human rights, and build momentum to end traditions like FGM and child marriage for good.
FGM practitioners
Women who perform FGM are invited to conferences on the health risks and the lack of any religious requirement for cutting. This work cuts to the heart of ending the practice, and is combined with wider community education so families do not simply seek another cutter. Some practitioners go on to train as Women Extension Workers or Traditional Birth Attendants, becoming powerful advocates for change.
Empowering youth
Young people rarely have a say in community decisions, even when those decisions place them at risk. Youth-to-youth workshops and facilitated dialogues with clan leaders give girls and boys a platform to speak respectfully about their experiences, learn their rights and have a say over the traditions that shape their futures.
Rural literacy
In remote pastoralist areas, formal schools may be nonexistent or out of reach. Alternative basic education offers flexible, community-based learning for children and adults. As literacy grows, so does the ability to question harmful traditions, understand the law and imagine different futures beyond “this is how it’s always done.”
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SUPPORT CHANGE THAT LASTS
One gift can help meet urgent need.
Ongoing monthly support enables lasting, meaningful change—empowering our project partners on the ground to plan, deliver, and sustain programs that meet the needs of their communities and strengthen them for the future.