Justice for Girls: a movement comes together in Kenya to end FGM and child marriage in a generation
From 30 August to 4 September 2026, Kenya became a global hub for the movement to end female genital mutilation (FGM) and child marriage. Survivors, activists, young leaders, community organisations, governments, UN agencies, donors and civil society came together around one challenge: how to turn political commitments into sustained action, resources and lasting change for girls and women.
The Justice for Girls Global Convening and Festival was organised by a consortium of 19 organisations, among them Sahiyo, Orchid Project, the End FGM European Network, the US End FGM/C Network, Equality Now, the Global Platform for Action to End FGM/C. The week moved from a high-level political dialogue in Nairobi, then to three days of movement building in Naivasha.
It came at a particularly difficult moment for the movement. Funding for the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme on the Elimination of FGM fell by 45% in a single year, and hard-won protections are under renewed pressure: The Gambia's 2015 ban is being challenged before the Supreme Court, while Mali's pro-FGM campaign presents cutting as protecting girls and defending national sovereignty during this summer. Across regions, anti-rights movements are increasingly coordinating in policy spaces and online, while civic space continues to shrink. Europe is no exception. In this context, collective action, flexible long-term funding, and support for locally led organisations are more than ever important. Justice for Girls gave the movement a place to answer that pressure together. The week opened in Nairobi with the End FGM Fashion Show, led by our members the Ifrah Foundation. Designers, creatives, advocates and allies brought to the runway a vision of a future where every girl grows free from FGM and is free to write her own story. The central message was that ending FGM does not mean ending culture. It means challenging practices that cause harm, while leaving room for traditions to evolve in ways that protect girls' dignity, rights, and futures.
The Political segment: leadership and collective action to end FGM and child marriage
On 1 September, the British High Commissioner's Residence hosted the high-level dialogue Justice for Girls: Leadership and Collective Action. It was co-hosted by the British High Commission Nairobi, the Anti-FGM Board of Kenya, the Global Platform for Action to End FGM and the Wallace Global Fund. Its aim was to renew political and financial commitments and to set up the priorities that would carry into Naivasha. In his opening remarks, H.E. Matt Baugh, British High Commissioner to Kenya, called for an ''ambitious, candid and practical conversation'' that listens to survivors and movement leaders. In a fireside chat that followed, Hon. Hermine Kembo Takam Gatsing, African Union Special Rapporteur on Child Marriage and Other Harmful Practices, drew on her own family history to speak about the opportunities denied to earlier generations of girls and about the power of education.
In the Collective Action Dialogue led by H.E. Matt Baugh, End FGM EU's Co-President Aminata Sidibe spoke for the civil society partners of the Global Platform, alongside WHO, the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme and UNICEF. She presented Unstoppable, the movement's shared vision and action plan for 2026 - 2031 and made clear that accountability has to run both ways: ''As civil society, through the Global Platform, we hold ourselves accountable for making Unstoppable a reality. But we cannot succeed without those who hold political, institutional and financial power in this room.''
She set out the movement's commitment to Sustain and Scale, Connect, Communicate, Prepare, Protect and Respond, and Support, with survivors, girls, communities and frontline organisations at the centre. She then turned to those holding powers: ''We are asking you to recognise what already works on the ground, resource it and help us scale it up. Civil society is holding up its end. Work with us so that Unstoppable becomes a reality in the lives of girls and women affected by FGM.''
Representatives of several European diplomatic missions and development cooperation agencies also took part in these discussions: the Embassy of Sweden in Nairobi, the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Embassy of Italy and the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS), the Embassy of Germany and GIZ, and the Delegation of the European Union to Kenya, represented by its gender, civil society and youth focal points.
The Justice for Girls Global Convening & Festival
From 2 to 4 September, Enashipai Resort in Naivasha hosted the convening itself. Participants took stock of where things stand on FGM and child marriage and of the strategies that are working. Participants called for breaking the silos between FGM, child marriage, gender-based violence and violence against children, and for health, education, child protection, social protection and justice systems to work together around the needs of girls and women. Discussions kept returning to political commitment, legal and institutional reform, coordinated action and solutions rooted in local contexts.
Survivors were at the centre of the convening, not only as storytellers but as co-creators of solutions. Poetry, music, painting and dance gave them room to express what they live through, and wellbeing and self-care were treated as conditions for a movement that lasts.
The Director of End FGM EU, Marianne Nguena Kana, co-organised the values session Rooted in Justice: Shaping Our Core Values & Grounding Principles with Warda Warsame of the End FGM Canada Network. The session started from a simple premise: principles should change whose knowledge counts, who decides, who is resourced, and how harm is repaired. In its Movement Voices segment, Valerie Lolomarie of Women of Grace UK, an End FGM EU member, spoke about survivor-centred leadership, highlighting that visibility is not enough without real influence over decisions and resources.
Marianne spoke at the plenary Navigating the Landscape: Current Realities of FGM and Child Marriage. In it, regional networks from Africa, Asia, the Middle East, the United States, Canada and Europe compared their realities. In the session The Power of Intersectionality: Building Inclusive Movements, our members, Hayat Traspas Ismail of Save a Girl Save a Generation brought in the experience of diaspora communities in Europe. Zinduka, a friend member of the network, also took part in it.
A new fund for the frontline
The convening saw the official launch of the Her Horizon Fund; a global pooled fund seeded with USD 15.5 million: USD 14 million from the Wallace Global Fund and USD 1.5 million from an anonymous donor. It is thought to be the largest single philanthropic commitment ever made to ending FGM, and it aims to raise USD 100 million. Managed by Women Win, it will provide sustained and flexible support to community-led organisations, with survivors, activists and frontline leaders shaping its governance and grantmaking. It answers one of the movement's longest-standing demands: that resources reach the organisations closest to the work, and support long-term movement building rather than short-term projects.
What comes next
The week closed with the unveiling and signing Unstoppable: Our Movement-Led Collective Vision to End FGM and Child Marriage where our Policy and Advocacy Officer Nejma Sayeh were one of the facilitators. The vision now belongs to every organisation that signed it. For End FGM EU and its members, the work ahead is to bring it into European advocacy and funding discussions, and to keep the voices of affected communities in Europe connected to the global movement.
