The Five Foundation

The Five Foundation is the Global Partnership To End Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). 

Founded by leading FGM survivor activist and author, Nimco Ali OBE, and communications strategist, Brendan Wynne, the Foundation's aim is to ensure global prioritisation of this urgent and underfunded issue, a devastating abuse that has affected over 200 million women and girls around the world. If we don’t get this right now, 70 million more girls will be forced to undergo it by 2030. 

The Five Foundation has an unparalleled track record of working to advocate for governments and major international media to engage in dramatic change on this issue. In 2020, Sudan banned FGM as a result of its advocacy – a country where nearly 9 out of every 10 women have been affected. It was covered by hundreds of media outlets including the New York Times. The Five Foundation has also engaged international media on various FGM cases in Egypt, Kenya and around the world – including a recent case of a father who tricked his three daughters into FGM in Southern Egypt. Ongoing priorities include persuading Somaliland to ban FGM in early 2022 and for Egypt to enforce its newly strengthened ban. The Five Foundation has already leveraged significant new support to end FGM and continues to engage with dozens of foundations and high net worth individuals to support its critical global advocacy and urgent grassroots activism. In 2022, the Foundation hopes to scale up this work and launch The Five Fund, a re-granting arm based in East Africa Bank, Djibouti. As the evidence base continues to grow on what works to end FGM, it is hoped that donors will join forces and make firm commitments to this Fund, which will make pilot grants from the outset.