Molly Melching and her organization Tostan fight for the rights of all children, especially girls, in West Africa.

Tostan’s program has led to over 7,200 villages across six nations in West Africa deciding to stop practicing female genital cutting, child marriage, and forced marriage. Thanks to Molly and Tostan, hundreds of thousands of girls can now grow up without the risk of being harmed for life. And they and the boys in the villages will not have to get married while they are still children. Both girls and boys can now dream of a future filled with knowledge, where they make their own life decisions.

Molly was honoured by the World’s Children’s Prize Foundation in 2017 for her 40-year struggle to end female genital cutting, child marriage and forced marriage.

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