VPack to Eradicate Female Genital Mutilation(FGM)

FGM causes significant health risks: infections, injury to adjacent organs, birth complications & death. Kenya’s prevalence of FGM is 27%. WHO considers FGM a global problem affecting 3 million girls a year. It is the leading cause of school dropout for girls. It is illegal in most countries, including Kenya, but is committed in silence therefore law could not be enforced. Evidence based data is relevant to our project that aims to end the silence, prompting societal & law enforcement actions.

VPack is an integrated solar powered technology that combines: 1) community awareness 2) a secure password protected online platform to collect real-time data, which produces evidence-based reports for in-time intervention to stop at-risk girls from undergoing FGM, and 3) informs law enforcement to protect the girls and enforce the law. The platform is used by field officers for peer-to-peer dissemination of educational material, communication & documentation and generates real- time data analytics to inform programmatic solutions in time to reach and rescue girls from the scourge of FGM. VPack enables field officers to collect data at the point of contact (POC) and create a greater impact on in-time intervention of girls in Western Kenya. The field officers use VPack to access gender-sensitive education materials to spread awareness about the harmful effects of FGM and conduct training among school age girls and boys of 9-15 and Stakeholders. This appeals to the good-faith reason of parents and community cultural influencers but failing this it works with local authorities to enforce the law against FGM. Use of VPack in the pilot phase has saved more than 1,000 girls, all were enrolled in the project, and brought community awareness to more than 4,000 people in 12 months in Kuria, Kenya. It is evidence based and breaks the silence crime of FGM. It is scalable and could reach thousands more girls in Kenya and beyond.

Eradicated FGM among over 1,000 girls and raised community awareness for 4,000 people in 12 months.