A slushy London could not be further from an African village, but today is the day that the link is firmly made between the two, on behalf of the women and girls across the globe affected by female genital cutting.

Fatou is a driven woman. She was driven to rise to being one of the most recognized rappers in her homeland of Senegal, and now she is driven to stop the practice of female genital cutting.

It is clear that femail genital cutting is a social norm in Indonesia as much as in parts of West Africa, where social change programs have enabled communities to abandon the practice. But what is different is the lack of awareness that FGC is an issue.

Communities are changing, shifting, abandoning. The very people who have perpetuated the practice of female genital cutting for centuries are choosing to change.

This movement is an example of how lasting social change can occur through the leadership of informed grassroots activists: mothers and fathers, youth, and traditional and religious leaders.