“The British government has pledged up to £35 million [$52.7 million] to help eliminate female genital mutilation (FGM) in a generation,” the Guardian reports. “At the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) on Tuesday, U.K. International Development Minister Lynne Featherstone said this was the largest donor contribution to tackling the practice, which is prevalent in many countries,” the newspaper writes, adding, “Featherstone said she hoped the U.K.’s commitment would prompt other countries to donate. Until now, only around £18 million [$27 million] had been allocated to FGM by donors.”

“Featherstone said a portion of the new money — expected to be around £8 million [$12 million] — would be spent on research into the best ways of ending the practice,” the Guardian writes. “The rest will be used to fund community programs, with money channeled through the U.N. program on FGM, and support the Home Office in targeting the diaspora,” according to the newspaper, which notes, “The minister will visit Senegal and Sierra Leone to see how they are dealing with FGM” (Ford, 3/6).