Igniting Community Action To End GBV and FGM

The Igniting Community Action to End GBV and FGM Project is a transformative initiative led by LEAD Sierra Leone to tackle deeply rooted harmful practices affecting women and girls in Bombali District, Northern Sierra Leone. Despite national progress, the district remains a hotspot for Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV), and child marriage—practices that threaten the health, rights, and future of thousands of women and girls.

This project adopts a dual approach that combines community engagement with economic empowerment. Through intercultural dialogue sessions in five chiefdoms, the project brings together traditional leaders, FGM practitioners (Soweis), survivors, health workers, law enforcement, and community advocates. These forums create safe spaces for collective reflection, foster trust, and build shared commitments to ending harmful practices. Community drama and awareness campaigns will further break the silence around gender-based violence and reinforce positive social norms.

At the same time, the project addresses the economic drivers of FGM and early marriage. Many women, including Soweis, remain tied to these practices due to the lack of alternative livelihoods. To change this, 250 vulnerable women and girls will undergo five months of hands-on vocational training in trades such as tailoring, embroidery, soap-making, cake baking, gara tie-dyeing, and agribusiness. Supplementary workshops on entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and mental health will equip participants with the knowledge, confidence, and resilience to sustain their businesses. Each graduate will receive a start-up kit to launch an enterprise, reducing dependence on harmful traditions for income.

By combining dialogue, skills, and support systems, the project strengthens community-based protection structures, ensures survivors can access justice, and empowers women to build independent and dignified lives. Ultimately, the project envisions a future where girls stay in school, women thrive as entrepreneurs, and harmful practices are replaced by opportunity, respect, and equality.