Five Kenyan schoolgirls have developed an app to help women and girls end female genital mutilation (FGM).
The five teenagers, aged 15 to 17, Stacy Owino, Purity Achieng, Ivy Akinyi, Synthia Otieno and Macrine Atieno from Kisumu High School in Kenya’s western city of Kisumu, developed I-cut to connect girls to rescue centres.
The I-cut app has earned them a space in this year’s TechnovationChallenge, where they will compete for a chance to win $15,000
The Technovation Challenge is sponsored by Google, Verizon and the United Nations aims to teach girls the skills they need to become tech entrepreneurs and leaders.
The girls would be representing Africa, as they are the only Africans chosen to take part in this year’s competition.
I-cut connects girls who may soon be forced to undergo FGM with rescue centers. It also gives legal and medical help to those who are suffering from the effects of FGM. The app has five sections: help, rescue, report, information on FGM and donate and feedback.
“FGM is a big problem affecting girls worldwide and it is a problem we want to solve,” Stacy Owino told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
“This whole experience will change our lives. Whether we win or not, our perspective of the world and the possibilities it has will change for the better,” say Synthia Otieno.
