UK to end flagship anti-FGM programme

[IwantToRetire]

Britain will no longer fund a major international programme to stop female genital mutilation (FGM), the government has announced.

FGM – a procedure that has been banned in more than 50 countries – involves altering healthy female genitalia, often with the intention of preserving girls’ ‘purity’ or ‘virginity’.

the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) has now confirmed that the programme will end in October 2026, and that there are “currently no plans for future funding”.

The announcement came in a government response to a report by the Women and Equalities Committee, which had urged ministers to protect funding for FGM prevention initiatives in the UK and abroad.

Some activists, however, say the money will not be missed because it was not being spent effectively to begin with.

Nimco Ali OBE, an FGM survivor who co-founded The Five Foundation and former government advisor on women and girls, wrote in 2023 that too little of Britain’s aid was making it to those in need.

Just a few paragraphs from a much longer article at https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/women-and-girls/fgm-uk-aid-cuts-flagship-women-fcdo-development/

My initial reaction is to say this is a shame but I'm not sure the programme has been very effective.

I agree it is a shame, but also hard to believe that after years of internationl funding (not just the UK) no one seems to have found a way of making sure the money is spent effectively.

The niave assertion that money should be given direct to small local projects is virtuallly unworkable, even with the best will in the world.

But this cut combined with the US cuts to aid such as HIV programmes, once again will hit women hardest.

It goes on in this country and our government has failed to stop it, funding an overseas initiative is a waste of money, if they can't stop here they can't stop it anywhere. Maybe they can use some of the funding to stop the disgraceful practice in the UK at least, but that would mean they would have to hold other culture's to the same standards we hold ourselves too and that ain't going to happen.

And we are in 2.9 trillion pounds worth of debt and now and by the end of parliament another 1.3 trillion added to the debt, it’s sad but I think soon we will have to make massive cuts to everything it’s just not sustainable.

Not sure which thread to add this to, but this might be of interest to some:

Event: Zero Tolerance to FGM: Investing in the health & dignity of women & girls
13 February 2026 - London
https://www.forwarduk.org.uk/news-events/event-zero-tolerance-to-fgm-investing-in-the-health-dignity-of-women-girls/