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Girls & Women

DFID is working to give girls and women choice, voice and control over their lives. Across the developing world, women and girls bear a disproportionate burden of poverty - but we know when we invest in girls, they have the potential to transform their prospects, their communities and the world. In these blogs various voices will show why this is important and how the UK is helping.

End FGM – using Thunderclap to get the message across

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Digital for Development, Female Genital Mutilation
Zero Tolerance towards Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C)

BBC6 Music DJ and broadcaster Lauren Laverne joined thousands in DFID's successful social media "Thunderclap" earlier this month, culminating in a message of zero tolerance to female genital mutilation (FGM) message being sent out to millions of accounts. Around 1200 people …

One billion rise to tackle violence against girls and women on V Day

International Development Minister Lynne Featherstone believes FGM/C can end in a generation if we work together. Picture: DFID

I wanted to take the opportunity of V-Day, a day on which girls and women around the world will rise up to challenge the violence perpetrated on them, to update you on my priorities as Ministerial Champion for the elimination …

The silence has been broken, now let’s break the cycle of FGM/C

Efua Dorkenoo with UK International Development Minister Lynne Featherstone. Picture: Options

On this International Day of Zero Tolerance against Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C), I call on everyone to unite in a global movement to prevent the next generation of girls from undergoing FGM/C. As we start on a new global social …

An African-led movement for change

23- year-old Adjura, who was cut when she was a child, had a reversal operation in 2009. Picture: Jessica Lea/DFID

What do you get when you combine a vibrant First Lady, a country in which most women have undergone female genital mutilation and many are facing health problems and complications in pregnancy, and funding from donor countries to support a …

Positive news from Burkina Faso on the work to end FGM/C

Girls from the Zitenga region. Their community has abandoned FGM/C as a result of the UK aided supported UN Joint Programme. Picture: Lindsay Mgbor/DFID

Today I am in Ziniaré, a village that has abandoned female genital mutilation or cutting (FGM/C). While 76% of girls and women from 15 to 49 years old in Burkina Faso have undergone the practice, only 9% of Burkinabés, men …

Voice, choice and control: Tackling FGM in Burkina Faso

Lynne Featherstone meets girls from the Zitenga region. Picture: Lindsay Mgbor/DFID

As a woman, a mother, a Member of Parliament and a government minister, I make my voice heard and take significant decisions every day of my life. But there are millions of women and girls around the world who don’t …

Energy access: the next thing to go viral?

Of all the things that have gone viral this year, there is 1 in particular that stood out for me. A Swedish professor, Hans Rosling, produced a survey that tests our assumptions about the progress of the developing world. It …

Ending violence against girls and women

On the 13 November, the Department for International Development will bring together donors, the UN and international NGOs to make commitments to ensure action is taken to stop violence and the threat of violence to girls and women during a crisis, and meet the needs of survivors of violence.