New $15.5 Million Fund Launched to Support Activists Ending Female Genital Mutilation
The Wallace Global Fund and an anonymous donor have launched the Her Horizon Fund, a $15.5 million initiative aimed at supporting frontline activists in ending female genital mutilation (FGM). The launch comes amid significant funding cuts to UN programs and legal challenges to anti-FGM protections in several countries.
The Wallace Global Fund, supported by an additional contribution from an anonymous donor, has launched the Her Horizon Fund, a $15.5 million initiative designed to support frontline activists working to end female genital mutilation (FGM) worldwide. The fund is seeded with $14 million from the Wallace Global Fund and $1.5 million from the anonymous donor.
This new financial vehicle aims to pool $100 million from donors to reach a tipping point towards eliminating FGM within a generation. The United Nations has set a goal to eliminate the practice by 2030. Currently, more than 230 million women and girls globally have been affected by FGM. A 2025 study estimated that the practice causes approximately 44,000 deaths each year in 15 examined countries.
The launch of the Her Horizon Fund occurs during a period of declining resources for international efforts against FGM. Funding for the largest UN initiative to end the practice, a joint program by UNFPA and Unicef, fell by 45% last year, dropping from $29.6 million to $16.3 million.
Ifrah Ahmed, a Somali-Irish activist and founder of the Ifrah Foundation, stated that the new fund will ensure activists can continue their work. She noted that UNFPA cut $300,000 in funding to her foundation last year.
Legal protections against FGM also face increasing challenges in various regions. In Somalia, three of the seven federal member states have enacted anti-FGM laws, while bills are pending in two other states. In The Gambia, the supreme court is considering a constitutional challenge to the country’s 2015 ban on FGM. Meanwhile, Sierra Leone’s new Child Rights Act does not prohibit FGM despite campaigning by rights groups.
The geographic distribution of those affected by FGM includes more than 144 million women and girls in Africa, 80 million in Asia, and 6 million in the Middle East. The impacts of the practice include severe pain, excessive bleeding, infection, complications during childbirth, chronic pain, and lasting psychological trauma.