KISUMU, Kenya, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) — Five girls from the western Kenyan city of Kisumu have developed a mobile application that is set to revolutionize the war against Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) widely practiced in the country.
The slick mobile application called I-cut has been developed by the teenage girls aged 15 to 17 years who are expected to travel to California, the United States, next week in the hope of winning 15,000 U.S. dollars for their effort.
The Kisumu girls are the only Africans selected to take part in this year’s international Technovation competition, which attracts cutting edge innovations that solve endemic challenges in society.
Dickson Otieno, the project coordinator of Kisumu based Lakehub and the girls’ mentor, said they were adequately prepared to solve female genital mutilation crisis in many Kenyan communities.
Otieno said the girls have undergone rigorous mentorship to refine their mobile application and make it user-friendly.
“The girls learnt the basics of developing a mobile application during a three months training course conducted by pioneers in the field of innovation,” Otieno told Xinhua.
