Who we are
Fahma Mohamed, Integrate Bristol with the backing of UK newspaper The Guardian newspaper in the UK.
What we did
17-year old Fahma Mohammad from Bristol, one of nine daughters in a Muslim Somali family who came to Britain when she was seven, had been working with a local organisation, Integrate Bristol, on the issue female genital mutilation (FGM), which some of her classmates had endured.
One estimate is that around 65,000 women in Britain have undergone some form of FGM, the highest number in Europe. Fahma felt strongly that teachers weren’t talking about it enough in schools, so started a petition calling on Education Secretary Michael Gove to write to all schools urging teachers to talk to students about it before the next summer holidays in a bid to protect girls from being mutilated during the “cutting season”.
How we did it
Within 20 days of calling on the government on change.org petition to put education at the heart of tackling FGM the petition had attracted nearly 250,000 petition signatures as part of a wider campaign involving The Guardian newspaper. No-one thought that Michael Gove would agree – but he did ask her and her friends into a meeting at the department for education.
Were we successful?
An hour after Fahma walked into a meeting with her five friends, the Education Secretary Michael Gove’s agreed to write to all headteachers in the UK within two months and include guidance relating to keeping children safe, specifically including material that will enable everyone working with young people to tackle female genital mutilation.
Fahma’s example has inspired anti-FGM campaigners around the world, including US-based FGM survivor Jaha Dukureh to lead a change.org petition in 2014 to improve data collection on women and girls in the US impacted by FGM and at risk of mutilation against a ‘a culture of silence about FGM in America’, garnering over 200,000 signatures. Jaha later became the leading campaigner against FGM in the Gambia, where FGM was banned in 2015.
- This case study has been adapted from #BeyondTheClick: a toolkit for exploring global digital citizenship by 80:20 Educating and Acting for a Better World.
Features, blogs and more
New resource for educators to get their hands on? Let us know.
Got a resource for educators in formal or non-formal education to recommend? Let us know.
Urgently needed and timely new resource from Afri
Ciara Regan reviews Afri’s latest resource, Sowing Seeds of Peace, for post primary teachers which is adaptable and immediately useful across a range of school subjects.
It’s international women’s day. Don’t forget to tag us now that you feel #prettypowerful
From getting out to vote and entertaining two children off school due to it being a make-shift polling station, Ciara Regan reflects on international women’s day 2024.
Punching above its weight
Juan Acevedo-Ossa explores South Africa’s case against Israel as the latest example of its ability to act as a normative superpower, exceeding the great powers in shaping global moral discourse.
Empathy in a Divided World – workshop
Join us for this online session Empathy in a Divided World led by Brighid Golden to discuss how educators can respond to the challenges of selective empathy, both for ourselves personally and with others in our different settings.
What does Palestine have to do with Africa?
How does Israel’s current aggression on Gaza relate to Africa’s own history of political violence in Uganda and Africa?