Resourcing the
movement to end FGM/C.

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A world without
FGM/C is in reach!

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Female genital mutilation or cutting (FGM/C) violates the bodily integrity and fundamental human rights of girls and women worldwide. Growing evidence of the true toll on lives, health and well-being has galvanised a growing global movement to end FGM/C.

Frontline leaders know what works to end FGM/C: trusted local leadership, survivor-led advocacy and solutions rooted in communities. But funding and support have not kept pace with their progress.

The movement to end FGM/C has been building for decades. Her Horizon Fund is a catalytic global commitment designed to seize on this momentum and create lasting change for the girls of today and tomorrow.

Launched at Justice for Girls Convening Success stories

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The scale of the challenge

Female genital mutilation or cutting (FGM/C) is an extreme form of violence against women and girls, documented in communities throughout the world.

230 million+ women and girls alive today have endured FGM/C. 4.4 million girls are at risk of being cut each year.

FGM/C is most often carried out on girls from infancy to age 15. It can lead to immediate and lifelong consequences, including chronic pain, childbirth complications and psychological trauma.

FGM/C is documented in at least 94 countries; only 58 have laws explicitly prohibiting it. Many communities receive no dedicated funding for prevention, protection or survivor support.

Global health and development funding is in steep decline. Too few donors understand that child survival, reproductive health and women’s rights cannot be achieved without addressing FGM/C.

A pooled fund model brings together philanthropic, government and corporate investment.

Seeded with catalytic capital from Wallace Global Fund, we aim to raise $100 million for the growing global movement to
end FGM/C.

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We follow the movement’s lead

Her Horizon Fund supports frontline work, advocacy, survivor care and movement strengthening. The Fund facilitates sustained flexible funding and support so frontline organisations can keep planning, growing and responding to what their communities need.

Built by the movement

Survivors, activists and frontline leaders shape how the fund is governed, how grantmaking decisions are made, and where the funding goes.

Built to scale

A pooled global fund designed to mobilise significant, sustained investment into the global movement that is driving an end to FGM/C.

Built to reach

Funding, advocacy, and survivor care reach frontline organisations and the networks and movement support organizations that sustain them.

The global movement to end FGM/C is accelerating

Decades of work by survivors, activists and community leaders are delivering change. FGM/C prevalence is falling in some countries, more governments are strengthening legal protections, and communities are choosing a different future for girls.

Progress remains uneven, but these examples show what is possible when frontline leaders have the resources to build on the momentum already underway.

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Success story

The movement protected The Gambia’s anti-FGM/C law

When a bill was introduced to repeal The Gambia’s 2015 prohibition on FGM/C, women’s rights groups, civil society, media and international allies organised to defend it. The repeal motion was defeated in the National Assembly in March 2024, protecting years of movement-led progress despite a highly coordinated backlash.

Source: The Time is Now Report

African Women_s Rights Advocates_AM409039 1 — Copyright: Global Media Campaign to End FGM

Success story

Sustained advocacy is translating into reductions in FGM/C

Movement-led advocacy, community engagement and policy change have contributed to measurable reductions in FGM/C. Prevalence has fallen from 76% to 56% in Burkina Faso, from 44% to 32% in Liberia and from 21% to 15% in Kenya.

Source: The Time is Now Report

Global Media Campaign to End FGM_Liberia 1 — Copyright: Global Media Campaign to End FGM

Success story

Frontline media campaigns have reached more than 100 million people

The Global Media Campaign to End FGM has trained local journalists and supported community-led “Born Perfect” campaigns. Its academies, media work and public dialogues involving survivors, faith leaders, health workers and police have reached more than 100 million people with anti-FGM messaging.

Source: Global Media Campaign impact report

testimonial Image — Copyright: Dr Chandni Shiyal

“

Ending FGM/C is a slow, sensitive process. It calls for patience, empathy, and respect for people’s fears. After more than a decade in this movement, I see progress. And I remain hopeful, because together, we are building something enduring.

Dr Chandni Shiyal,

Asia Network to End FGM/C

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“

FGM/C is one of the worst forms of child abuse, and it does not occur in isolation. It is a violence which has its roots in patriarchal misogyny, which denies women and girls rights to their bodies and their sexuality.

Dr Leyla Hussein,

The Girl Generation

A legacy of backing frontline leadership

Wallace Global Fund began supporting the movement ending FGM/C in 1979.
This work was pioneered by Gordon “Gordie” Wallace, the daughter-in-law of former U.S. Vice President Henry A. Wallace, the Fund’s original donor.
A sociologist and women’s reproductive health expert, Gordie worked to break the silence around FGM/C by backing frontline leaders and survivors as they advanced change in their communities.
After her death in 1994, Wallace Global Fund deepened its commitment to the movement she had helped nurture by expanding its FGM/C grantmaking and philanthropic advocacy.
Her Horizon Fund carries this legacy forward at a new scale: the movement leads, and the funding follows.