African female genital mutilation survivors will lead thousands of campaigners in a two-year “caravan campaign” across the continent, calling for an end to the practice.
Organised by #FrontlineEndingFGM, a group of grassroots activists and organisations in Africa will cover about 7,400 miles (12,000km) across 20 countries, including Nigeria, Sudan and Cameroon.
Activists, medical professionals and religious leaders from high prevalence areas in these countries will hold a series of events and radio broadcasts tailored to local challenges in eradicating FGM. At the border of each country, the convoys will hand over an anti-FGM banner and the “Dear Daughter” pledge book, in which families commit to protecting their daughters from the cut, to the next caravan.
“We are shifting the power,” said Ayo Bello-Awodoyin, who leads the Global Media Campaign to end FGM in Nigeria. “Grassroots activists who have been doing the work but have not really had the backing to do it at this level, will now have the opportunity to come out en masse across different countries and lead these efforts.”
The campaign, inspired by the “pink bus” anti-FGM movements that started nearly a decade ago in the Gambia, will begin in Mauritania in June and run until mid-2026, when it ends in Djibouti.
FGM in Africa has declined over the past three decades, in some places quicker than others. Countries such as Kenya, Burkina Faso, Togo and Liberia have witnessed a rapid decrease, while high levels of support for it still exist in the Gambia, Somalia, Mali and Guinea. In Sierra Leone, it remains legal despite sustained calls for a ban, which were revived after three girls died during an FGM ritual in January. Although many African countries have anti-FGM laws, activists say poor enforcement allows the practice to persist.
“The major issue is the effectiveness of laws – if we say that FGM is a punishable offence but there’s no prosecution, it becomes a big challenge,” said Bello-Awodoyin.
Activists say that to stamp out the practice, which is often rooted in cultural and religious beliefs, advocacy needs to be customised to each region where it is prevalent. In Somalia, for instance, where 98% of women have undergone FGM, the view that cutting is a religious requirement is impeding its eradication, according to rights groups.
“It will have a huge impact for the community to hear a religious leader say that it’s not a religious practice, but a cultural one,” said Ifrah Ahmed, an FGM survivor and founder of the Ifrah foundation, which advocates for an end to cutting.
Campaigners will use the caravan to mobilise communities in hard to reach areas, including camps for internally displaced people, where they will show documentaries on the health impacts of FGM, including childbirth complications, as well as menstrual, sexual and psychological issues.
“When they watch these documentaries for themselves, it will reach them differently. It is one thing to tell them that young girls are dying from FGM, it’s another for them to see it,” said Ahmed.
Activists say regular radio campaigns are an effective way of reaching communities. A three-year broadcast project organised by religious leaders in the Tana River region in southern Kenya, resulted in an 84% decline in the worst form of FGM, according to the Global Media Campaign. The organisation hopes the caravan will re-energise anti-FGM advocacy across the continent, as threats – including a shift towards medicalised FGM in the Horn of Africa, and underground practices – threaten to undo progress.
“I hope that people will learn how harmful FGM is … and that survivors and leaders of grassroots organisations will not stop fighting,” said Bello- Awodoyin.
