The findings of the last International Stakeholders’ Dialogue were clear: the participants in the ISD developed a series of recommendations to fill the gaps and challenges identified and to promote the implementation of gender-transformative approaches to ending FGM, and the question of funding was central, even crucial, for the actors in the field. Indeed, the recommendations to donors and funders mentioned the need for additional funding for actions on FGM. The actors in the field echoed the fact that this need for additional funding for the sector would be one of the means to sustain the efforts of several years which are increasingly threatened by the decline of actions in the field due to lack of funding, but also by the fact that they are now working on much more sustainable approaches. It was stated at this ISD that the time and scale of funding provided must be adequate to achieve the goals of gender transformation.  

In this discussion, we will discuss:

• The reflections that have brought about the idea of developing innovative financing to ending FGM
• What innovative financing is
• The reality of small organisations seeking funding
• The importance of creating partnerships and working in consortium to ending FGM
• Innovative and feminist sources of funding