By Ali Mohamed
Ali Mohamed is an anti-FGM campaigner who is using the media in a powerful way to express to the Wajir community that FGM is not accepted anymore.
Media Project
This year’s Easter media campaign against FGM had activities to sensitize the community on upholding the rights of the girl child against FGM in Wajir County.
The media campaign was hosted through Wajir radio community aired in the local Somali dialect and has a coverage of approximately 150,000- 200,000 people.
The Radio discussions…
An FGM survivor shared her experience of FGM. The panelist now married shared her ordeal and experience on FGM during the cut, after the cut, and married life. She shared her suffering on the three occasions and the risks she encountered. The panelist took questions from the members of the community to give them a real experience of the situation.
Among the panelist also included a police officer who shared their role as a police officer in apprehending the perpetrators of this act, shared the challenges they face in tracing the SGBV perpetrators including how they run to the refugee camps to hide and how the community is cooperating with the police.
A religious leader addressing the community during the rescue exercise. 
Senior chief gives a public Barraza to thank the community for their response to stopping FGM
The other panelist also included the FGM activist who shared a wide range of information including the progress on the fight for FGM, the government laws on FGM, etc.
Success
The media project was very successful; the survivor in the panelist and sharing the real-life experience was the biggest success. The other success was the saving of girls who were due to face the FGM following a call from the community members after the talk show.
The strong messages that came out of the media campaign
` FGM has no place in the community, it should end`.
Unexpected Wins
The biggest win was the response of the community in Hara location in Wajir County to stopping a planned FGM operation.
Impact
The cooperation between the community, police, religious leaders, activists in the fight against FGM was the greatest success toward the fight against FGM
Linkages
The strong linkage between police, administration, and community established
What would we do differently next time…
Give a dedicated reporting line for community members to report directly to the police if cases are brought to light.
