Frontline activists and leaders in the fight against female genital mutilation (FGM), a practice that has affected over 230 million women and girls globally, have welcomed the launch of a $15.5 million fund aimed at accelerating efforts to end the practice. The Her Horizon Fund, initially supported by $14 million from the Wallace Global Fund and an additional $1.5 million from an anonymous donor, aims to raise a total of $100 million. This funding is intended to create “unstoppable momentum” toward ending FGM within a generation, as the global community seeks to reach a critical turning point in the fight against this harmful tradition. The announcement comes at a time of declining donor support for grassroots efforts led by FGM survivors in local communities. A major international initiative to end FGM, run by the UN’s sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA, and the UN children’s agency, UNICEF, saw its funding drop by 45% last year, from $29.6 million to $16.3 million. The United Nations has set a target of eliminating FGM by 2030, but progress is lagging due to reduced funding and legal challenges to existing protections. Ifrah Ahmed, a Somali-Irish activist and FGM survivor, has been instrumental in the fight against the practice in Somalia, where it is nearly universal. She founded the Ifrah Foundation, which has worked to push for anti-FGM legislation. Despite a $300,000 cut in funding from UNFPA last year, Ahmed managed to secure alternative support. Her foundation has contributed to the enactment of anti-FGM laws in three of Somalia’s seven federal member states. In two other states, anti-FGM bills have been approved by the cabinet but are still awaiting parliamentary approval, facing resistance from some religious leaders. Advocates highlight that while FGM is increasingly recognized as a human rights violation, and several countries have criminalized it, progress remains fragile. In The Gambia, the supreme court is considering a constitutional challenge to the 2015 ban on FGM, following a failed parliamentary attempt to repeal it in 2024. In Sierra Leone, the new Child Rights Act does not prohibit FGM, despite ongoing advocacy from rights groups. Susan Gibbs, a senior adviser on women’s rights and FGM at the Wallace Global Fund, emphasized that FGM is a global crisis, representing extreme gender-based violence and a public health emergency. While there have been declines in FGM prevalence in some countries, she noted that donor funding is decreasing, and frontline organizations are struggling with resource shortages. She stressed the importance of directly funding these groups to help them sustain and expand their efforts. FGM involves the partial or total removal of female genitalia for non-medical reasons and is practiced in many parts of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. It can lead to immediate health issues such as severe pain, excessive bleeding, and infection, as well as long-term complications like difficulties during childbirth, chronic pain, and psychological trauma. A 2025 study estimated that FGM causes approximately 44,000 deaths annually in 15 countries, making it one of the leading causes of death for women and girls in those regions. The Her Horizon Fund aims to provide the necessary resources to frontline activists, who are best positioned to drive lasting change in their communities.