This year, End FGM EU welcomes three new associate members joining our network of now 32 organisations across 15 countries in Europe. We are very happy to welcome Diotima (Greece), Femmes Entraide et Autonomie (France) and Women's Right Foundation (Malta) to the Network.

Our wonderful Head of Policy and Advocacy, Chiara Cosentino, left the organisation in August after over 4 years of outstanding work as part of the End FGM EU Secretariat. Read about all the things we achieved in  Policy and Advocacy over the years here.

We are also welcoming new team members in the Secretariat:

• Mereb Habte has joined the team as a European Corpse Volunteer, as part of the Programmes team, she supports our efforts towards understanding the needs of FGM-affected communities in Europe and helps us uplift their voices. Read Mereb's bio here.
• Elena Achótegui Sebastián is our new Communications and Events Assistant and works to support the organisation of events and the production of communication content and materials. Read Elena's bio.
• Finally, the Secretariat welcomes Fabienne Ducaud as Operations & Administration Officer. She will be facilitating the management of the daily operations and administrative systems and procedures for the Network. Read Fabienne's bio here.

Our 2021 #EndFGM4All Campaign is all about intersectionality, and it explores nine different topics around it. Click HERE to read about the Campaign.

During the summer, June was dedicated to celebrating Pride Month! We explored the intersections between LGBTI and FGM-affected communities and the need for spaces to address the specific challenges that people with both these identities face.

LGBTI and FGM issues are related and we believe this is an important conversation to have, so we created an infographic together with ILGA Europe!

We talked to community activists about Female Genital Mutilation, why they work to end it and how religious and racial discriminations play into this. A big thank you to all of them for sharing their expertise on these topics with us!

Our Ambassadors have been busy during the summer months! Read all about their latest activities.

In 2019, End FGM EU was awarded a project under the European Solidarity Corps: Understanding Community Voices in Europe. This project will attempt to showcase the work done by activists and members of community-centred organisations to influence policy and legislation, shift attitudes and break stigmas.

In May, End FGM EU launched our interactive map on FGM in Europe! This interactive map includes all the information we have gathered on laws, policies, services and data collection on FGM in the 14 European countries where End FGM EU has members.

End FGM EU Director, Anna Widegren moderated the High-level panel discussion of the Human Rights Council on the prevention of and response to female genital mutilation, in Geneva.

End FGM EU is taking part in Mind the Gap, the project tackling gender stereotypes in education - coordinated by our Member AIDOS. We are currently producing a guide on "How to avoid gender bias in teaching".

EWAG 2021 is coming! EWAG was created to give girls & young women from all over the world the possibility to speak to decision makers about their needs, ideas and ambitions. This year's events and activities will soon be announced! 

End FGM EU with the support of Chain partners, created two videos - one on FGM and one on EFM - targeting affected communities. The short animated videos will aim at raising awareness amongst affected communities on the consequences of both practices and why they should be given up. We will be launching the videos online in early October! 

In April and May, AIDOS launched two animated videos in the framework of the "Building Bridges between Africa and Europe" project trying to answer questions such as "What is female genital mutilation?"; "What is a social norm?" ; "What is gender inequality?"

Fatucha Banora and Ana So, Youth Ambassadors of the End FGM European Network, were invited to the Portuguese Parliament to talk about their work and the difficulties experienced in combating this harmful practice.

The guide addresses 13 myths and misconceptions often heard by the field teams in the course of their work and it has now been translated into French & Dutch in its newest version. 

As part of the ARTEMIS  Project, our member, the Mediterranean Institute of Gender Studies (MIGS) together with its partners produced a final research report on the implementation of the European Protection Order in 5 European countries.

On 22 and 23 June 2021, the second consortium meeting of the two-year EU project CHAIN took place. On Instagram, Terre des Femmes introduced Isatou, Muhammed, Habiba and Clément, all CHAIN community trainers.

UNAF dedicated this year’s International Conference to debate on the key policies and measures needed to advance the promotion of Women and Girl's rights. The event was held online and counted with the participation of international panellists and more than 200 participants. 

AkiDwa has been active during the past 6 months, organising fundraising events and online conferences and webinars, as well as other activities to keep raising awareness and providing support services. 

The project "Men Standing Up For Gender Equality" led by LESSAN e.V. with Femmes Entraide et Autonomie (FEA) and TERRE DES FEMMES counted 30 men trained as CHANGE mediators against gender-based violence, FGM/C, and EFM. They also organised awareness-raising and educational activities in their communities.

This summer, we released a report on the impacts of Asylum laws, policies and practices on FGM-affected women and girls in seven EU countries: Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain.

The report was done in collaboration with our internal Asylum Working Group. Read it now to see the trends, differences and promising practices around FGM in these countries!

On 30 June 2021, on the occasion of the Paris Generation Equality Forum, together with our partners of the Global Platform for Action to end FGM/C, we came together with a united voice to make sure the priorities and key issues tackled by Action Coalition 1 were also taking into consideration the specificity of ending FGM and supporting FGM survivors.

Dr Christina Kaili, who works for our Member MIGS, has just published her PhD thesis on the strategies of feminist blogging to mobilise global collective action around local human rights violations. The thesis focuses on the blogs of ten women in Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen, in the context of the 2011 Arab uprisings. 

Mumkin is a free app to practise having difficult conversations about gender, culture and society. The Mumkin app is all about the power of conversations to create change - and it was developed in collaboration with our friends at Sahiyo!