Wallace Global Fund launches $16M vehicle to eradicate FGM
What's the deal? The Wallace Global FundDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has launched Her Horizon FundDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a $15.5 million vehicle to combat female genital mutilation (FGM) globally. It aims to raise $100 million in total to eradicate the practice within a generation.
Why now? The fund arrives as donor money for FGM work sharply declines. The largest anti-FGM effort — a joint program by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)Dealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and UNICEFDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → — saw its funding drop 45% last year.
What's the endgame? Susan Gibbs of the Wallace Global Fund called FGM a "public health emergency" and an extreme form of gender-based violence. Frontline groups are "often starved for resources," she said, and direct funding would help them scale. The fund launched at a Justice for Girls gathering in Kenya this month.
By the numbers: FGM affects over 230 million women and girls worldwide, including more than 144 million in Africa, 80 million in Asia, and six million in the Middle East. A 2025 study estimated the practice causes around 44,000 deaths annually across 15 countries examined.
What could go wrong? Legal progress remains fragile. In The Gambia, the Supreme Court is reviewing a challenge to the country's 2015 FGM ban, while Sierra Leone's new Child Rights Act does not prohibit the practice.
The signal: The fund reflects a shift toward channelling money directly to survivors and frontline activists rather than large institutions. Ifrah Ahmed, a Somali-Irish activist and FGM survivor whose organization lost $300,000 in UNFPA funding last year, put the stakes plainly: "If we don't continue to raise money, the dream where this practice will end will have died for young girls."
Read more: newsbytesapp.com
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
