Purposeful
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Purposeful is a feminist movement building hub for adolescent girls in the global south. Our work is both global and local.
Our three strategic focus areas support girls and their allies to radically remake the world for themselves. These include insights and influencing; convening and micro-grants; media and communications. In Sierra Leone we bring these activities together into one integrated strategy, creating a ground-swell of girls who can access and imagine new possibilities for themselves and their communities. Elsewhere, we support a diverse range of partners to spark and sustain movements with and for girls.
31/03/2026
By ignoring the ECOWAS ruling, the government of Sierra Leone is setting a dangerous precedent.
16/03/2026
Cultural sensitivity is used to justify the lack of implementation in laws that will end FGM.
However, the reality is rooted in political convenience and moral cowardice.
Our children are paying the price of our inaction, and the cost is way too high.
On , we are shining our light on the brilliant work that young feminist mentors in Sierra Leone are doing through the Girls’ Circles Collectives.
Do you want to know what out-of-school girls feel when they get back into the classroom? Joy. Power. Possibility.
Read our Building Girls Power report today and discover what else is possible when we work and walk alongside girls transforming their lives and communities:
🔗https://bit.ly/girlpowerSL
17/02/2026
"As the Purposeful team traveled across five communities in rural Sierra Leone where the Wati Kura¹ project is being implemented, our conversation kept circling back to a question that refuses to let us go: Will our collective efforts be enough to end FGM/C in our lifetime?"
Read "Does the work matter if the cutting continues?"
https://medium.com/-are-purposeful/does-the-work-matter-if-the-cutting-continues-3c7f28f000a1
Will we see a Sierra Leone without FGM in our lifetime?
Don't miss this powerful analysis from our very own Director of Advocacy, Josephine Kamara, on why FGM continues to persist, and what needs to be done to move the needle.
06/02/2026
Our girls are born perfect.
On Zero Tolerance for FGM Day, that message moved through Sierra Leone during the 16 Days of Activism, led by the Amazonian Initiative Movement through the Born Perfect Bus Tour. Activists travelled village to village alongside doctors, police officials, religious leaders, cultural figures, and musicians, opening public conversations on FGM where it is still practiced.
The tour entered high-prevalence communities such as Bakolo village in Portloko District. In Portloko, women organised marches linking FGM and gender-based violence to poverty, social harm, and lost livelihoods, while calling for enforcement of existing laws.
These conversations took place in town centres, on roads, and in full public view.
Traditional practitioners participated in these gatherings, speaking openly about the need for alternative livelihoods and beginning shifts toward bloodless rites. What unfolded across these communities was organised, collective, and led from within.
Today, and every day, we witness and uplift the work of frontline actors working to
05/02/2026
Tomorrow on national television, a survivor of FGM speaks about harm, accountability, and the right to protection.
This conversation matters. Be sure to tune in on 6th February:
🕒 4:00 PM 📍 SLBC
🕒 2:00 PM 📍 Truth Media
🕒 7:00 PM 📍 SLBC
Forum Against Harmful Practices-FAHP
17/01/2026
We have two vacancies in our advocacy team. Please apply or share with your network 🙏
Links to the JD’s in bio.
22/12/2025
See you next year. Wishing you a restful holiday season.
19/12/2025
READ: A Year of Holding the Line - https://mailchi.mp/wearepurposeful/a-year-of-holding-the-line
Visit https://wearepurposeful.org/ and sign up for our Newsletters.
Check out the music that kept us sane this year:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/29j4S8a2GLEmBa4mIChrt0?si=cn_A9wLjQMaNhvOZiasYDg&pi=gr413mxbS-eYw
There are some conversations which move the needle, call a thing a thing, and make us rethink everything we thought we knew about an issue. Our 19th November webinar with ‘me too.’s Tarana Burke, Purposeful’s Dr Ramatu Bangura, and youth survivor leaders: Project Rebirth’s Oluwadamilola Akintewe and Her Voice’s Mariama Kamara, was one such discussion.
A proper intergenerational gist between movement aunties and young women at the forefront of the fight against gender-based violence, it lay bare the candid truth of what leads many of us to activism (experiencing violence and being determined to protect others from it), the age at which that happens (young, too young) and what happens when we center young women and provide them with the room and resources to vocalize and organize (hint: big wins and real change).
's Rights Innovation Fund- CRIF
18/12/2025
What can we say about our work to end FGM in 2025?
We get boku fo say!
This year has been a year of activity and impact. Also one of growth and learning.
Every action and activity contains a deeper story: of a girl protected, a tradition questioned, a community learning, and a country (slowly) changing.
We’ve made some progress and are grateful to all our partners and friends… the journey continues until all of our women and girls are free from harm.
Here is a link to read all about our FGM work this year.
https://we-are-purposeful.medium.com/the-anti-fgm-movement-in-sierra-leone-a-year-in-review-38aff7d33009
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