Girls create app to help stop female genital mutilation

These girls, who called themselves “The Restorers” created i-Cut, an app the allows young women to get medical and legal help before or after being submitted to FGM. The app allows to user to choose from main options: “help,” “rescue,” “report,” “information on FGM” and “donate and feedback.” Which means that, through this tool, girls who are forced to undergo the procedure can alert authorities and ask for help and survivors can report and get help from local centres. All of these just at the reach of a button.

FGM consists of a non-medical procedure that involves the total or partial removal of a woman’s external genitalia. Despite being illegal in Kenya, it’s still practised because of its cultural importance, as it is a rite of passage and prerequisite for marriage.

The team was inspired to create this solution after they stopped seeing a friend at school who underwent the procedure. “We were very close, but after she was cut she never came back to school. She was among the smartest girls I knew”, one of the students said.

i-Cut was a finalist in the 2017 Technovation Challenge.

“The Restorers” hope that this innovation can help bring the end of FGM.

Adapted from: https://bit.ly/2JXU4Ge
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQNmhTwjDfw