Sahiyo U.S. Executive Director Mariya Taher attended the Global Collaboration to End FGM/C Conference in Washington D.C, a two-day event that brought together key stakeholders committed to ending female genital cutting worldwide from October 28-29, along with Community Engagement Coordinator Samman Masud as well as Advisory Board Members Nesha Abiraj and Absa Samba. Held at The George Washington Milken Institute School of Public Health, this gathering included participants from the international community and a diverse group of experts, including philanthropists, global regional FGM/C networks, U.S. government entities, civil society organizations and activists that work together to end FGM/C. The conference, which began with a networking event followed by intimate fireside chats and conversations with these partners sought to address a key challenge to progress in global FGM/C advocacy: the funding gap and significant lack of resources allocated to prevent and respond to violence against women, particularly FGM/C.
Psychotherapist and Global Advocacy Director for The Girl Generation, Dr. Leyla Hussain, led the opening remarks. Dr. Wisal Ahmed, the Global Coordinator for the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme on the Elimination of FGM, Susan Gibbs – Senior Advisor on Women’s Rights & FGM at Wallace Global Fund – and Dr. Kakenya Ntaiya – founder of Kakenya’s Dream – also welcomed attendees with speeches that recognized FGM/C as a pressing gender-based violence issue. They also portrayed it as an alarming public health crisis, bringing with it intersecting problems of child-marriage, human trafficking, and rising mortality rates between women and girls around the globe.
A panel discussion moderated by Sahiyo’s Mariya Taher titled, “Current Global Efforts to End FGM/C”, included representatives from Asian, African, European, and the U.S. and Canadian regional networks, where participants discussed issues related to anti-FGM/C advocacy that were prevalent and specific to their communities.
Conference attendees also watched a private screening of the short film, “The Beginning”, directed by Sahiyo Co-Founder Insia Dariwala. The film captures a mother’s trauma as a survivor of FGM/C, and her mission to stop family members from performing the same ritual on her daughter.
The fireside chats with philanthropists and civil society organizations were well received, with engaging conversations about barriers that halt progress in anti-FGM/C efforts on a global scale. In a concluding but critical closing session, all conference attendees participated in a group activity to further build out recommendations initially discussed at Women Deliver 2024 in Kigali, Rwanda, on specifically funding grassroots FGM/C movements and organizations. Participants collaborated to brainstorm best practices for grantmaking in the sector that are inclusive and adaptable to the realities on the ground for activists and organizers. These recurring conversations involved the importance of long-term and sustainable funding to address FGM/C, and to drive policy changes and community-based solutions for survivors and at-risk communities.