The Achievements Of The Desert Flower Foundation

Thousands of girls rescued, strict laws, education and holistic medical care for girls and women affected by FGM
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The Desert Flower Foundation's End FGM campaign attracted a lot of attention.

Every 11 seconds a girl is genitally mutilated . One in three dies after this brutal procedure and many suffer from the painful consequences for the rest of their lives.

More than 250 million women worldwide are affected by this cruel practice. According to UNICEF, 30 million girls are at acute risk in Africa alone. Female genital mutilation is practised in East, West and North Africa, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and, due to high levels of immigration, also in Europe, North and South America, Australia and New Zealand.
In 2002, Waris Dirie and her team founded the Desert Flower Foundation. With the aim of eradicating female genital mutilation once and for all, educating people worldwide, helping affected women and saving and protecting girls from this heinous practice.

Education, awareness-raising and laws

In 2002, nobody in Europe knew that immigrants were also practising this terrible ritual in Europe. Waris Dirie and her newly founded Desert Flower Foundation decided to carry out comprehensive and undercover research in African communities with a team of young European and African journalists and to publish a study about it. The Desert Flower Foundation team spent two years researching in numerous major European cities. In London, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Madrid, Amsterdam, Brussels, Stockholm, Lisbon and Vienna.
The report ran to 4,000 pages and Waris Dirie decided to write a book about it. Schmerzenskinder was published in 2005 by Ullstein-Buchverlag Berlin and was subsequently published in many translations worldwide.
This first report on the widespread prevalence of female genital mutilation, which affects at least 700,000 women in Europe today, had an impact. Throughout Europe, the media wrote about the fact that FGM is not only practised in Africa, but also on Europe's own doorstep. The European Union (EU) put the issue on its agenda for the first time.
On 6 February 2006, Waris Dirie and her Desert Flower Foundation team presented the results of their research to the EU Council of Ministers. The ministers were shocked and promised immediate action. Almost all European countries subsequently passed laws against female genital mutilation. Campaigns were organised to educate people about this issue.

World's largest campaign against FGM

The most spectacular campaign was carried out by the Desert Flower Foundation together with the BBC and Scotland Yard in the UK. Scotland Yard discovered that 20,000 girls in England are at risk of FGM every year during the summer holidays, more than in any other European country. The BBC, with Scotland Yard and the Desert Flower Foundation, produced a video to educate people and distributed 35,000 DVDs to schools, hospitals and police stations across the UK. It was the biggest campaign against FGM ever seen in the UK.
In the meantime, the Desert Flower Foundation had set up its own contact address (e-mail) for affected and threatened women, as well as for people who wanted to help. We received more than 10,000 emails in the first year. A website, which we had set up in German and English, was visited by over a million people in the first year.
In 2008, we developed the first major social media campaign against FGM with the German agency Heymann Brandt de Gelmini. The specially produced video was broadcast by numerous TV stations worldwide. This campaign reached 400 million people in its first year and we were honoured with the German Social Media Award 2010 for the best NGO campaign of the year.

2009 - the feature film Desert Flower

In 2009, we presented the feature film Desert Flower, the filmed life story of our founder Waris Dirie, at the Venice Film Festival, which was regularly shown in cinemas and on TV in over 40 countries. FGM conferences, organisations such as UNHCR, UNICEF and numerous embassies showed Desert Flower as the most powerful document ever released in the fight against FGM. The film is shown at schools and universities, at film festivals and many cultural events in Africa and Asia.
In 2007, Al Jazeera, the largest TV channel at the time, invited our founder Waris Dirie on the popular show hosted by Riz Kahn to talk about her life and the work of the Desert Flower Foundation. It was the first time in history that an Arab channel had covered this topic. More than 200 million people watched the show. It was an initial spark, as FGM is now regularly reported and discussed on all Arab channels.

Support through school projects

Since the start of our campaigns, numerous pupils and students have come forward to write papers, presentations and even dissertations on FGM and have been provided with information material by the Desert Flower Foundation. Since the beginning of our campaign, we have provided over 7,000 pupils and students with information material, who have themselves become activists and ambassadors in the common fight against FGM.

Numerous honours and awards

The work of the Desert Flower Foundation has been recognised by many politicians and organisations. Waris Dirie has received numerous awards for her fight against FGM and her commitment to women's rights.
For example:
  • President Michael Gorbachev presented her with the World Social Award at the World Women's Award in Hamburg in 2004
  • In 2007, French President Nicolas Sarkozy honoured her for her work with the Desert Flower Foundation with France's highest decoration - the Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur (Knight of the Legion of Honour)
  • Italy's government presented her with the country's highest honour in 2010
  • In the same year, the African Union appointed her as the first Special Envoy for Peace and Security in Africa
  • The United Nations (UN) appointed her Special Envoy in the fight against FGM
  • 2013 Woman Of The Year Campaigning Award in London
  • 2014 International Freedom Prize presented in the House of Lords (House of Lords of the British Parliament) in London
  • One Million Chances Award 2018, donated by the Fritz Henkel Foundation
  • Sunhak Peace Prize 2019 for her commitment to women's rights, awarded in Seoul
  • 2020 Africa's 50 Most Powerful Women by Forbes magazine

The sponsorship project Save A Little Desert Flower

The Desert Flower Foundation not only provides worldwide education on this torture of small, innocent girls, but also actively protects them from FGM. The sponsorship project Save a Little Desert Flower has been running since 2014 and is the safest way to protect girls from FGM. We sign a contract with the girls' parents or guardians that guarantees their physical integrity and protects them from forced marriage. In addition, every rescued Desert Flower attends a school. In return, the family receives financial support and medical care.
Safa, the girl played by Waris Dirie as a three-year-old in the film Desert Flower, was the first to be protected by the Desert Flower Foundation. Her story has moved millions of people and her name has become synonymous with awareness-raising and change. Safa is the role model for this amazing project.

Reconstruction surgeries for women at the Desert Flower Center

The Desert Flower Foundation also helps women affected by FGM. Since the beginning of our work, numerous women have contacted us who have suffered from the severe health consequences of FGM. We have been able to help many of them and in 2013 we decided to open the first Desert Flower Center for the holistic treatment of FGM victims in Berlin. Further Desert Flower Centers followed in Paris, Stockholm and Amsterdam.

The major Desert Flower education initiative

In 2016, Waris Dirie made a fundamental and pioneering decision with the Desert Flower Foundation: Education became the focus of the work. After years of educational work on the ground in the communities, the first three Desert Flower schools were built in 2019 for a total of 1,200 children in Sierra Leone (West Africa). As part of the major education initiative for Africa, 30,000 Desert Flower education boxes were also distributed to schools in Sierra Leone. An education box contains a reading and exercise book, pencils, sharpener, wooden ruler and school bag.
There are now five Desert Flower schools in Sierra Leone, with a sixth under construction. Further schools are planned in Tanzania.