Her Horizon Fund Launched with $15.5 Million Commitment to Combat Female Genital Mutilation

Frontline activists and campaign leaders have welcomed the establishment of the Her Horizon Fund, a new $15.5 million (£11.4 million) philanthropic initiative dedicated to ending female genital mutilation (FGM) globally. The fund represents the largest single philanthropic contribution aimed at eliminating the practice, which has affected more than 230 million women and girls worldwide.

Established by the US-based Wallace Global Fund, the initiative has been seeded with $14 million from the foundation alongside an additional $1.5 million from an anonymous donor. The Her Horizon Fund seeks to gather a total of $100 million from international donors to reach a tipping point and eradicate FGM within a generation.

2style="color:#FF0000;font-size:18px">Declining Resources and Legal Challenges

The launch comes during a period of shrinking financial support for anti-FGM programs and broader challenges to women's rights. Although the United Nations established a goal to end the practice by 2030, funding decreases have placed progress at risk. Financial support for the UN's largest joint anti-FGM initiative, managed by UNFPA and Unicef across 18 countries, dropped 45% last year from $29.6 million to $16.3 million.

Efforts to protect existing legal bans also face pushback. In The Gambia, where lawmakers rejected an attempt to repeal a 2015 ban in 2024 following resistance from rights organizations, the supreme court is now reviewing a constitutional challenge to the prohibition. Meanwhile, Sierra Leone's new Child Rights Act omitted a ban on FGM despite advocacy efforts, and religious leaders in parts of Somalia continue to oppose proposed anti-FGM legislation.

2style="color:#FF0000;font-size:18px">Direct Support for Local Organizations

The fund aims to provide direct resources to local activists and survivor-led initiatives that have faced financial strain. Susan Gibbs, senior adviser on women's rights and FGM at the Wallace Global Fund, announced the launch at the Justice for Girls global gathering in Kenya. Gibbs emphasized that sustainable progress requires empowering grassroots leaders who understand their communities.

In Somalia, where FGM is nearly universal, three of the seven federal member states have enacted anti-FGM laws, and two additional states have cabinet-approved bills awaiting parliamentary decisions. Ifrah Ahmed, founder of the Ifrah Foundation, noted that direct philanthropic funding is crucial for sustaining advocacy and legislative progress after her organization experienced a $300,000 cut from UN sources last year.

2style="color:#FF0000;font-size:18px">Global Health Impact of FGM

FGM involves the non-medical partial or total removal of female external genitalia. According to global figures, the practice has affected over 144 million women and girls in Africa, 80 million in Asia, and 6 million in the Middle East. It causes severe immediate complications, such as extreme pain, hemorrhaging, and infection, alongside long-term risks including childbirth complications, chronic pain, and psychological trauma. A 2025 study across 15 countries calculated that FGM leads to roughly 44,000 deaths annually, positioning it among the top causes of mortality for women and girls in those regions.