ActionAid and the fight against female genital mutilation

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a form of violence that remains far too widespread and often invisible. Worldwide, it affects 230 million girls and women (UNICEF 2025), forever compromising their health, rights, and freedom. The phenomenon exists in Italy as well, calling for collective responsibility. For years, ActionAid has been working on the ground alongside migrant communities, with prevention, training, and listening projects to build a cultural and institutional response capable of protecting and transforming.

ActionAid’s commitment to combating FGM

«ActionAid Italy has been working on the issue of female genital mutilation since 2016 thanks to European funding. We have carried out three projects, and on April 1st, the fourth project started, called SAFE, also funded by the European Commission, which will last two and a half years», explains Benedetta Balmaverde, project manager within ActionAid Italy’s economic and gender justice unit.

FGM is a programmatic priority for ActionAid’s global federation, which operates in over seventy countries. The focus is on access to sexual and reproductive rights, and this practice constitutes one of the gravest violations of those rights.

The main challenges in combating FGM

Operating in this context is not simple. «Milan is the city where we are most active in working with migrant communities, particularly the Somali, Senegalese, Egyptian, and Nigerian communities, to address the issue of FGM. One of the biggest difficulties is making people understand, in some contexts, that female genital mutilation is not a prescribed religious practice but a form of violence rooted in cultural and traditional aspects», Balmaverde emphasises.

To dispel this myth, ActionAid works with community trainers, key figures in awareness-raising. «Some colleagues, community trainers of Egyptian origin, have carried out important research gathering information on Quranic verses, on the Sunna, and all religious references that can help dismantle the false belief that FGM is prescribed by Islam. This is often the first objection we face during awareness meetings.»

The second difficulty is linked to the strong desire of many migrant communities to maintain their cultural traditions. «We work with foreign-origin communities here in Italy. They have a very strong desire to maintain their cultural identity. So telling them to abandon what has been a tradition for hundreds and hundreds of years in their community is, in a way, like telling them to abandon their cultural identity.»

At the root of FGM is often a deeply entrenched patriarchal view, shared both in the countries of origin of migrant communities and in our own society. A transversal idea suggesting that female suffering is somehow natural or necessary. This is also reflected in culturally internalised expressions such as “you will give birth in pain.” In this context, it is not surprising that women themselves often perpetuate the practice. It is on this ground that ActionAid intervenes, with projects aimed at strengthening female self-determination, allowing every woman to gain awareness and freedom in choices concerning her own body.

Giving women a voice: the role of community trainers

One of ActionAid’s successful strategies is the direct involvement of women from the affected communities. «We have been working with community trainers since 2016. Most are women, although there is also one man in the group. They all come from the communities we work with and have chosen to get personally involved, becoming reliable points of reference close to the people», explains Balmaverde.

These trainers organise awareness meetings, also through innovative channels such as online radio broadcasts in their native languages. «One of our community trainers spoke about the issue on an online radio station in Wolof, the language of the Senegalese community. Shortly afterwards, she was contacted by a woman asking for help accessing genital reconstruction services.»

In reality, the two women had been in contact before. «This woman had actually already met our community trainer in other settings, but she had never felt ready to open up about the issue. She realised, however, that our colleague was trained and willing to help.»

Thanks to the network activated by ActionAid, in collaboration with Dr. Massimiliano Brambilla – a plastic surgeon specialised in plastic and regenerative surgery and female genital health – the woman was able to receive the necessary assistance in Milan.

Results and future prospects

Cultural change takes time, but there are positive signs. «There is a decrease in the incidence of the practice here in Italy, but not in all communities. Some are at higher risk, such as the Nigerian and Egyptian communities, where this decrease is not observed. On the contrary, in the Somali community, girls born in Italy generally do not undergo the practice. However, it varies from community to community.»

The numbers, however, are always relative: in fact, these are estimates rather than precise data. «These are hidden practices, sometimes even internalised. But things are about to change.»

The latest statistics date back several years: «Currently available data speaks of 87,600 women with FGM in Italy, but these figures are as of December 31, 2018, so they are very outdated and already partial in themselves: they are estimates; it is not possible to effectively collect data from all communities. Moreover, it is a phenomenon little known by the professionals who come into contact with these women, but a new national survey has finally been announced.»

Hope for change

ActionAid’s concrete actions show that change is possible, even if not immediate. «It is certainly an excellent start, because sometimes practices are carried on without even being questioned, without thinking they might be problematic. Beginning to bring the issue to light helps to create a ‘seed of doubt’ that can then lead to change», concludes Balmaverde.