The Board members of Global Woman P.E.A.C.E. Foundation held their 2015 year-end meeting last Saturday. The year-end meeting is probably the most important meeting of the year. The Board revisits each program the organization ran and each event they held during the year. They review ‘lessons learned’, and vote on what to continue in the upcoming year and what not to repeat. The Board also reviews the annual report of the current year and the budget for the upcoming year. The year-end meeting is where the Board of Directors nominates and elects any incoming members and they reelect officers and directors.
One of the programs of which the Board expressed excitement on Saturday is their Kids Reach Program. The organization has 2016 plans to partner with City Gate, a Washington, D.C. based organization that runs several after-school programs. City Gate will incorporate Global Woman P.E.A.C.E.’s Kids Reach Program in their after school curriculum. The Kids Reach is a pilot program, designed for elementary and middle school children. The program includes geography, reading, writing, arts and crafts and theatrics, while City Gate’s program teaches the STEM system. All of the lessons mentioned in the program include teachings about the practice of female genital mutilation/cutting. Global Woman P.E.A.C.E. Foundation has appointed a special committee to design and prepare the lessons with proper child-friendly language. “We certainly do not want to frighten the children or confuse them with language beyond their comprehension”, said a member of the special committee.
The other program is their Group Support Program, which is connected to the OB-GYN Network. This year the organization launched the program with special Gynecologists in the Washington, D.C. area. The purpose of the program is to create a line-up of Gynecologists that are familiar with the medical treatment of post-FGM/C. This line-up of specialists will be provided by the organization to women who have undergone FGM/C to ensure that the women receive proper gynecological care. Included in this Network are Family Practitioners and Pediatricians. “It is crucial to include the medical community in the campaign to prevent as well as rehabilitate FGM/C”, remarked a board member.
Other matters the Board discussed are their biggest event of the year, the “Walk to End FGM” and a special observance of the International Day of Zero Tolerance. The walk-A-thon is already scheduled for October 15, 2016. International Day of Zero Tolerance is observed each year on February 6th.