Our Mission:

We empower women and girls through education and fight Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and other gender-based violence.

Global Woman P.E.A.C.E. Foundation is a U.S. 501(c)(3) charitable not-for-profit. We advocate on behalf of women and girls against FGM, focusing on the United States and West Africa. The acronym in our name stands for “People Everywhere, All Created Equal.” FGM is a human rights violation. Girls and women worldwide deserve the right to bodily integrity and health. Join with us to eradicate FGM.

Produced by GWPF’s Resource Development Team

Latest News

International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM

February 6th is International Day of Zero Tolerance for female genital mutilation (FGM). The United Nations first officially commemorated the International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM on February 6, 2003. Since then, the day has been used to enhance awareness-raising campaigns, and to take concrete action against the practice. This is the day that the world tells the perpetrators of the practice that there is absolutely no tolerance for it. The United Nations regards this practice as child abuse and a form of human rights violation. Global Woman P.E.A.C.E. Foundation (GWPF) is observing the day by releasing a special video produced by the Resource Development Team (RDT), demonstrating male involvement against the practice.

If you wish to donate, you may do so by using the button below, and allocate your donation to the program of your choosing:

Rehabiltation

• Support Group: Our support group for FGM survivors meets monthly online, under the guidance of a licensed psychologist. This program provides group and one-on-one counseling. Please contact us if you would like to participate.

• Vaginal Restorative Surgery: The restorative surgery is the restoration of the clitoris and labia. The surgery eliminates the daily pain and discomfort caused by FGM. It removes any existing keloids and abscesses. It gives relief to the survivor after a lifetime of pain. We currently have a waiting list for the surgery, and each surgery costs us approximately $2000 U.S. Please support this program to help GWPF support the physical well-being of our survivors.

prevention

• The Lisa C. Bruch Scholarship Fund: Education is an effective means of fighting FGM. Named in memory of the late board member Lisa C. Bruch, who passed away on December 18, 2018, the fund enables GWPF to help keep girls in school in Liberia. This fund covers the girls’ annual tuition of $100 U.S. each, including books and supplies. Please support this fund and help us keep girls in school in Liberia, West Africa.

• The Donald A. Strong Scholarship Fund: Educating boys at an early age about FGM is an effective way toward ending the practice of FGM. Named in memory of the late Donald A. Strong, who passed away in late October 2021, this fund enables GWPF to educate boys at the Julie E. Taitt School in Liberia. This fund covers the boys’ annual tuition of $100 U.S. each, including books and supplies. Please support this fund and help us educate the future fathers, husbands, and leaders.

• The Sanitary Pads Campaign: Some girls in certain African countries do not have access to sanitary napkins, or if they do, their parents cannot afford to purchase them. As a result, those girls miss school every month when they have their periods. Therefore, GWPF seeks donated sanitary pads so we can distribute them to girls in need in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. GWPF aims to ship at least 1000 pads to each country annually. We have identified a school in each country to distribute pads to girls in dire need.

• Training for Prevention: This program trains law enforcement and educators to recognize at-risk girls and young women, take appropriate action to protect them against FGM, and hold responsible parties accountable.  

GWPF Interns Help Educate Medical & Graduate Students

GWPF’s former high school interns, Serena Gulajan and Yatra Karki, who graduated from Chantilly High School in Chantilly, Virginia, in 2021, are helping educate medical students, healthcare professionals, public health graduate students, and others through their work developing educational materials and curriculum. Gulajan and Karki worked with Dr. Deborah Smith, professor of maternal health at Marymount University, to produce an educational video geared to medical students and healthcare professionals. The video covers such topics as the types of FGM/C, the harms of FGM/C, signs that a patient has undergone FGM/C, and ways to support FGM/C survivors in the healthcare setting and through additional resources. See their video below.

U.S. House Bill H.R. 6100 becomes Law

January 5, 2021: H.R. 6100, the “STOP FGM Act of 2020,” was signed into law. This U.S federal law will strengthen criminalization of female genital mutilation (FGM), increase penalties for offenses, and require the Depts. of Justice, Homeland Security, State, and Education to provide annual briefings to Congress on FGM in the United States. The bipartisan House bill was sponsored by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, Democrat of Texas and winner of a Global Woman Award in 2020, and Rep. Don Bacon, Republican of Nebraska. In a news release from the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, Committee Chairman Rep. Jerrold Nadler said, "The STOP FGM Act will take the long-overdue steps necessary to protect all women and girls from the practice of FGM and would provide the Justice Department with an effective means of prosecuting those who commit this terrible act.” Learn more about Global Woman P.E.A.C.E. Foundation’s advocacy of H.R. 6100.

Read the bill: H.R. 6100.

FGM/C Prevention: A Resource for U.S. Schools

Global Woman P.E.A.C.E. Foundation, in partnership with The Council of the Great City Schools, developed a school toolkit to assist educators, administrators, school nurses, and others in school settings prevent FGM/C (female genital mutilation and cutting). This educational toolkit teaches the harms of FGM/C, how to identify at risk girls, how to develop a strategy for preventing and responding to FGM/C, and how to engage the whole school community in prevention efforts. Click here to open the U.S. schools toolkit.

FGM/C Healthcare Toolkit

In partnership with the George Washington University Milken School of Public Health, Global Woman P.E.A.C.E. Foundation produced an online FGM/C Healthcare Toolkit to help make medical appointments less stressful and more productive for survivors of FGM/C (female genital mutilation and cutting) and the healthcare professionals who treat them. Click here to open the healthcare toolkit.

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